HomeMy WebLinkAbout02022012 Energy Study Committee MinutesDRAFT Minutes for meeting on February 2, 2012, 2 Fairgrounds RoadNext scheduled regular monthly meeting is on March 1, 2012, 5PM, 2 Fairgrounds Road
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Anne Kuzspa at 5:03PM. In attendance were all committee
members Anne Kuzspa, Peter Morrison, Zachary Dusseau, Whitey Willauer, Ian Golding, H. Flint Ranney, John Stover, Ken Blackshaw, and Chris Magee. Also present were the Town’s Alternative Energy Outreach Coordinator Lauren Sinatra, Selectmen Rick Atherton and Bob DeCosta, Jason Graziadei from the Inquirer and Mirror, Bob Patterson, Sunny Daily, Jason Flanagan, Sandy Welch, and Dr. Tim Weld.
The agenda and the minutes for the five previous meetings (December 1, 15, and 29, 2011, and January 3 and 5, 2012) were unanimously approved.
Whitey reported that the current Nantucket net metering limit is 390kW. The 2011 DPU Regulations are
now in the pipeline for promulgation by the Governor’s office, but there is no required timeline for their promulgation and no way to predict how long that process will take. When promulgated, the 2011 Regula-tions would raise the ceiling on Nantucket Electric Company net metering project eligibility from 390 kW to 802 kW for municipal projects and to 401 kW for private projects. Solar projects at the WWTP and the
airport have been delayed for different reasons. Ken Blackshaw said that the portion of the endangered moth habitat actually at the airport is so small that there really shouldn’t be any problem. Bob DeCosta suggested that a large solar installation at the Water Company might allow for a smaller turbine at the dump, and Rick Atherton agreed. Whitey pointed out that solar is only 13% efficient compared to 40% or
more with wind turbines, and it requires a lot more land area. He expressed his view that it would be bet-
ter to have no turbine than one smaller than we are currently working on. John Stover said that a smaller turbine would be less effective and have a higher capital cost per kwh. Flint wondered if any size turbine at the dump would be acceptable to the present opponents of the project.
Rick and Bob both suggested that NESC develop a final recommendation to the BOS and the FinCom,
possibly including alternatives to the wind turbine (smaller unit, more solar, gasification, conservation programs, etc.) so that Town Meeting will vote on an easy to understand article as opposed to its present vague status. Considerable discussion about dates for meetings of the BOS, FinCom, and subcommittees resulted in Lauren agreeing to work up and email everyone a comprehensive schedule. It was agreed that
our ZBA application should be presented again by Whitey at their next meeting, after going through Town Administration to be placed on the agenda, hoping for a ZBA approval before Town Meeting. John intro-duced Dr. Tim Weld who will be working with our Health Subcommittee (Stover and Golding).
Peter Morrison presented a decision matrix for his NESC subcommittee, expecting to have details and
questions resolved for the NESC’s final decision and recommendation at our March 1 meeting. Anne reported that National Grid has provided funding for some 20 MassSave residential low-income audits. Lauren says that 58 additional residential home energy assessments were performed by Mass Save dur-ing the week of January 16, and that our next “audit week” will be April 23-27. An informational session
for local contractors to engage and work on behalf of Mass Save was also held on January 19, with over 30 participants. Anne wanted to complete our comments on the Nantucket Energy Plan for a 15-minute pre-sentation to the BOS on February 15; Chris Magee agreed to assist her with the presentation. Rick asked that we list our priorities and our reasons for each.
Meeting adjourned at 6:53PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Nantucket Energy Study Committeehttp://www.ackenergy.org