Energy Advisory Committee

Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee Minutes 4/19/16 at 7:00 PM City Hall, Montpelier, VT Attendees: Barbara Conrey (filled in as Chair), Jessie Baker (Assistant City Manager), Alex P (Montpelier Resident), Dan Costin, Becky Wigg, Geoffrey Fitzgerald, Keil Corey, Paul Markowitz, Dan Jones, Barry McPhee, Ken Jones, Johanna Miller, Laura Biren (AmeriCorps VISTA) 1. Introductions 2. Geoff moved to approve agenda. Becky seconded. All approved. Geoff moved to approve prior meeting minutes. Barbara seconded. All approved. 3. Jessie Baker made public comment on a grant opportunity. Jessie met with Andi Colnes of Energy Action Network, Kate Stephenson and Vermont Energy Investment Corporation to discuss a DOE (Department of Energy) grant opportunity. Will go to City Council next week. Opportunity is directly for cities leading with energy orienting priority. Thinking of applying for $500,000 over 2 years. Majority of the money will go to the City, some to Vermont Energy Action Network for Dashboard work and VEIC for expertise. The City will use funds to 1) Develop in-house capacity 2) Expand data available on Dashboard 3) Community outreach. Jessie has been pushing for Ground & Facilities Department Head. Discussion on staff role of Community Outreach. MEAC recommended checking in with Scott Muller about direction of municipality. Statement of intent is due May 17th. Ken Jones mentioned to include schools and Tom Wood with this grant. Barbara recommended having formats set up through Georgetown/Efficiency of Vermont work. Dan Jones made motion that MEAC supports the application and urges the City Council to support it. Geoff seconded. All approved. Johanna asked that MEAC see the application before draft is sent. Dan Jones made motion to move Steve up on the agenda. All approved. Steve Everett discussed experience with city management and billing for district heat. Steve communicated his participation in the program and how his capacity charge did not reflect what was discussed at the beginning of the program. Jessie Baker is in charge of the district heat program. Jessie discussed how the program is managed. Rate expires in June. Jessie will negotiate capacity with individual customers. The rate is set with capacity. Steve mentioned that it’s important for people to be recognized for energy efficient measures. Discussion of energy use and capacity measurements. Barbara invited Steve Everett to attend MEAC’s Landlord Energy Workshop on 4/26. 4. Working Group Reports: a. Transportation: Planning event for Saturday July 16 from 10 AM – 2:00 PM. Tentatively reserved Statehouse lawn. Calling it Alternative Transportation Fair. Jessie Baker said City’s insurance would cover for Statehouse event. Barbara & Geoff will help with clean- up. Status of Sian & tabling materials discussion. Potential for sandwich boards to direct traffic from farmers’ market. VEIC will send dimension of their sandwich board. Discussed parking EV cars for event.  b. Solar: developing materials to inform people on different directions to go with solar & integrate with firms that will help them with options. June 21 last year was the Renewable Energy VT around the state solar tour. Hard to get people excited when there’s a cap through Jan 21, 2018. Net metering program undergoing change. Open for public comment until May 12. Hearings May 4, 5 in Montpelier. Getting at siting issues and incentivizes built landscape. c. Municipal: Solar focus: meters allocated well. All of City’s meters with Waste Water Treatment Plant as dump meter with option for City to buy from Log Road. Gave up options on Sharon. Sharon has Water Treatment Plant and schools. Discussed schools, which is being revisited. Permitting is in good shape. City has plenty of usage capacity, but to replace the money the City spends, the usage would not be enough. Discussion of money versus Kilowatt trade-off and concern over septage. There will be a flip-the- switch ceremony on Log Road. Not much opportunity with Water Treatment Plant. Waste Water Treatment Plant focusing on methane generating digester through EVT. d. Update on Landlord Energy Workshop. Sent out to MEAC for invite. Paul said grant with EVT and City of Montpelier has been approved. Discussion about Car charge station with landlords. 5. Updated Roadmap with current goals to report to City Council. Contact Anne Watson about Roadmap. Discussion on adding more metrics to plan. Response was not enough capacity within MEAC to add more specific metrics. Geoff moved to present Roadmap was part of Quarterly report/update to the Council. Jo seconded. All approved. MEAC adjourned at 8:35 PM under unanimous consent. Next meeting is Tuesday, May 17th at 7:00 PM in City Hall.