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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-04-08-SLC-min Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of Meeting of April 8, 2021 A meeting of the Sustainable Lexington Committee (SLC) was held by Zoom conference. A quorum of eight was present. Members Present: Cindy Arens, Celis Brisbin, Paul Chernick, Rick Reibstein, Todd Rhodes (vice-chair), Dan Voss (chair), Charlie Wyman Members Absent: Archana Dayalu Other Attendees: Stella Carr (Sustainability Director), Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Ricki Pappo (GWAC), Paul Gromer (Peregrine Energy), Jacob Naimark (Sunwealth Power), Brennan Luscombe (AMP Energy), Andrew Chabot(AMP Energy), Nicholas Topping (AMP Energy), Chris Mcdermott(AMP Energy); Nagarjuna Venna(resident), Lin Jensen (resident); Elizabeth Mancini (Town Procurement) The meeting was called to order at 6:01 pm. Todd referenced the opening statement requested by the Town Clerk, and all members present responded that they could hear. 1. Minutes. The minutes of March 23 and March 31 were approved as written. 2. Community Solar, Sunwealth. Jacob Naimark of Sunwealth presented a short overview of the program, which allows income-eligible residents (less than 60% of median income) to buy solar energy by acquiring credits against their electric bill at a 25% discount. They are currently looking for about 30 residents (i.e., residential accounts)to participate in a solar development in Waltham (a rooftop system) that about to go live and after that,they have a development planned in Woburn. Sunwealth has previously managed the Community Solar program established for the parking lot canopies installed at Temple Emunah. Paul Gromer identified that there are about 330 residential accounts in Lexington that would be eligible for participation in the program. Sunwealth is looking for about 30 residents to participate. Members of the committee had a number of questions and comments, including: • Need to clarify promotional materials to ensure that the program is distinguishable from the many predatory promotions of companies offering "green" energy that are inferior to Lexington's Community Choice program. • It will be important to clearly distinguish between the roles of the Town and Sunwealth(our partnership with Next Step Living may be a model). 1. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of April 8, 2021 • Confirmed that working with Sunwealth on this program does not prevent the Town from supporting other similar programs in the future (Paul Gromer noted that he's not aware of any other programs as generous as Sunwealth's) • During outreach to residents, consider partnering on outreach with Human Services, LexHAB, Housing Authority, any others with experience and credibility with the income-eligible population • Ensure that Town Counsel has reviewed the contract, and assess whether there any long-term liabilities, or is a resident truly off the hook if they drop out Additional discussion explored Sunwealth's business, their enrollment capacity, whether they develop or co-develop the solar projects (they do both), their timeline (they ideally want to complete the Waltham sign-up by July, but it's not essential), etc. The committee voted unanimously to endorse the Sunwealth program in concept, subject to legal review and the provision of additional clarity in response to questions raised. Stella Carr identified that she is in discussions with Paul Gromer to identify how a community solar program could be integrated into the Community Choice Program. 2. AMP Solar Development. The representatives from AMP provided an overview of their project: a 4.6 MW solar facility located in Sandwich, MA. AMP is looking for a single municipality to be the offtaker for the project(i.e., to purchase the capacity of the development) with a 20-year commitment. They could work with multiple municipalities, but their preference is to work with a single entity. The municipality(ies) would benefit from the solar energy credits. For Lexington, the benefit would be about$63,000 in the first year and about $1.6 million over 20 years. During the discussion, the following points were raised: • AMP is a solar developer and owner/operator. They have 19 Community Solar projects across the US and 12 active projects in Massachusetts (40% anchors, 60% for residents —like the Sunwealth project) • The project is being built in Sandwich, MA. It is an 18.8-acre site of which about 11 acres has been cleared for the solar array (10,374 modules). The site will include a wooded buffer around the array, and they play to plant native plants and pollinator-friendly crops around the array. At the end of the useful life of the facility, the leased land will return to Sandwich. • Project is focused on public entities in the Eversource East region. Alternative On-Bill Credits (AOBC) —a monetary credit, not a volumetic credit. • The Town would receive a 10% discount on the purchase of solar credits that the solar farm produces. AMP is offering a direct credit based on the Eversource basic service rate. • The solar farm is a B33 rate class (small business and lighting). This project is in Block 5 for the capacity. • The Town uses about 11 million kWh per year. The solar farm will produce 5.7 million kWh. 2. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of April 8, 2021 0 Commercial start-up is planned for February 2022. Rick raised concerns around the Town participating in a greenfield solar development project that involves the clearing of 11 acres of woodland in Sandwich, MA. Rick asked about the carbon breakeven of clearing trees for solar arrays. Paul Chernick identified that the breakeven is about a year. Dan asked that the discussion of this project not be presented as a"Community Solar" program because it is a AOBC sales agreement for public offtakers. "Community Solar" suggests a program more like the offer from Sunwealth and we don't want to confuse residents. Dan requested that Stella and Town staff take an inventory of current solar installations and expectations for future in-town development. Mark Sandeen confirmed that we are at about 60% of our solar credit capacity based on what we have already installed. We don't want to exceed our limit. AMP estimates that their contribution would take up about 25% of the remaining capacity. Celis raised concerns related to the Town being locked into a 20-year agreement with only a 10% savings. He also asked whether AMP had reached out to Sandwich. The representatives said that the towns on the Cape have a small load and already have a lot of solar. That is why AMP is talking with larger Town's north of the Cape. 3. Firehouse Solar. Stella presented the analysis and proposal from Solect(state approved vendor) for rooftop solar at the new firehouse. The committee agreed that a few questions need to be resolved before making a recommendation. • Dan, Paul, and Celis will review the proposal to confirm that the estimates are appropriate and comparable to existing installations. Stella will confirm that the plan is that the solar will be behind the meter. Stella will ask for a PPA proforma and share with the team. The committee will reassess the proposal at our next meeting following these reviews. 4. Green Vehicle Policy. Stella presented the draft policy. Todd identified that the plan is for both the Vehicle Policy and Procurement Policy to be shared with the School Committee and Lexington Public Schools (LPS)to move these policies to apply to both the Town and LPS —similar to the Integrated Building Design and Construction Policy. Cindy identified that the original version of the policy matched the Green Communities sample policy. Rick recommended that we check the Green Communities minimum requirements to be sure that in the edits we didn't drop any requirements. The site to check is: https://www.mass.gov/guides/becoming-a-designated-green-community Celis recommended that we use the Town's actual cost of electricity—current and projected portfolio (not a basic Eversource rate)when conducting the total lifecycle cost analysis. 3. Sustainable Lexington Committee Minutes of April 8, 2021 There was a discussion related to the mileage per gallon formula in the policy. Questions were raised whether that formula accurately reflects how Lexington vehicles are used. Mark recommended that assessment focus on just gallons of gas used, and kWh of electricity used to keep it simple. The committee agreed to make a few edits and review the policy again at the next meeting to indicate the committee's support for the policy. Then Stella can share it with Town and LPS staff to work toward a joint policy approved by both the School Committee and the Select Board. 4. Procurement Policy. Stella presented the draft policy. Liz Mancini commented that she was reviewing the policy from the perspective of compliance with procurement rules and sees no problem. Rick commented that this is the beginning of a learning process, and you want to engage the users and get their input. Cindy recommended that the definitions at the end be removed or, at least, only include the definitions of terms that are used in the policy. Rick recommended that definitions could go into a separate document(lower level than the policy) so that it can be updated more easily over time. Mark recommended that the list of certification agencies be included in a separate document also. 4. Updates from the Sustainability Director. • Stella is working on getting involved in a Mass Save program designed support affordable housing. She is reaching out to LexHab and others to get involved in the program. • From the letter sent out by Homeworks, 53 HEAs were completed generating $1,325 to GWAC. GWAC is targeting those funds to the future Heatsmart program. • Stella is pursuing the Sustainable Youth program (to be called "SustainabLY"— for Lexington Youth). A representative from the School Committee will participate and Mark offered to participate also. Next Meeting: The next regularly scheduled meeting of Sustainable Lexington is at 6 pm on April 27, 2021. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm. Respectfully submitted, Todd Rhodes and Charlie Wyman 4.