Energy committee wants fast action on energy proposals

By its own request, the Charlotte Energy Committee has officially become the Charlotte Energy & Climate Action Committee. It lived up to its new name in a presentation that immediately followed the selectboard’s unanimous vote in favor of the change on Monday, as volunteer Jim Hodson pressed municipal officials to greenlight the next phase of an aggressive plan to decarbonize municipal buildings.

Based on research undertaken with the help of a grant-funded consultant, the committee wants to build 60 kilowatts of new solar panels, using both rooftop and ground-mounted arrays on town-owned land in the West Village and on the town garage property. It offered a potential solar installation at Thompsons Point, which would power the wastewater facility and sell excess electricity to adjacent landowners, as an optional addition.

The rest of the new solar power would facilitate a transition from fossil fuel heating systems to electric heat pumps at the senior center, the Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue Services building and the town hall. While the existing solar array on the town garage’s roof meets most of the current demand for electric power at those buildings through group net metering, that demand would increase considerably with the introduction of heat pumps.

“A lot of our heating and cooling equipment is aging,” Hodson said. “We took the approach that we’d keep, not the air conditioners, but the heaters in place and use them as backup. And so, it will extend the life of those, and if we implement this, we could see if we ever actually needed them and then kind of get them out.”

According to Hodson, Charlotte needs to move quickly if it hopes to meet its voter-approved goal of 90 percent renewable energy by 2050. That figure encompasses not only municipal energy usage but also private usage by Charlotte residents.

“One of the greatest triggers for people to turn green is when a neighbor turns green,” Hodson said. “I think this is a great opportunity, as a town, to lead by example.”

For financial reasons, the solar projects would, by Hodson’s telling, need to break ground before winter. He cited favorable regulatory conditions that won’t last much longer, owing in part to state legislation from last year that affected net metering. He also referred to what he sees as the precarity of the current federal incentives, given the political environment on the national level.

“The hardware rebates right now are 30 percent. It’s significant,” Hodson said. “We know they’re gunning for that money.”

The Vermont Bond Bank, which issues debt on behalf of municipalities, helped Charlotte finance its previous solar project. In combination with subsidies, a low rate of interest would, by the energy committee’s calculations, avoid the need for a tax increase to pay for the town’s full-scale energy transformation.

“They say they’ve got a two-and-a-quarter-percent rate on a 10-year bond for municipalities with the right credit rating,” Hodson explained. “With the incentives, we essentially have enough to cover that loan payment for 10 years without going negative to the taxpayer.”

Bond financing, however, would require approval from a townwide vote, following a “resolution of necessity” by the selectboard and “some public hearings,” according to town administrator Nate Bareham. It would also need the cooperation of Charlotte Volunteer Fire & Rescue, the municipally funded nonprofit that owns 170 Ferry Road.

Selectboard chair Lee Krohn expressed skepticism at the energy committee’s proposed timeframe: “I can’t imagine the possibility of getting town votes, permits and everything else. Most of those things take years to work through.”

Nevertheless, the board approved the energy committee’s request to enter “phase two” of its Town Energy Modernization Project, in which it will issue requests for proposals for its desired scope of work. It will bring those proposals back to the selectboard for review.

The board also approved the installation of a bike repair station outside the Charlotte Library. The energy committee had budgeted up to $1,000 for the project.