Cornwall Energy Task Force

Minutes for November 3, 2008, 9:15 am, Town Hall

October minutes: Approved Attendees: Gordon, Katie, Anne S., Anne Z. Deb,

Mark Garrett of Community Energy, visiting speaker.

Old Business:

• CCS Lighting Audit - Schedule from Tom Sheridan of Alliance, still pending but the documents have been resigned, Gordon met with the foreman, and the project is underway.

• Sign Ons to CL&P for 30%- by current calculations which are moderately indefinite, we need somewhere between 25 and 20 new sign-ons to reach our 30% goal of 196 households. Today we learned that a small business bill under $2000 is considered at residential household. Katie got a few new sign-ons from the Halloween onslaught on Pine Street and hopefully more will be gleaned from Election Day festivities. A phonathon is planned for November 11 and 13 to finish the job, meeting at Kent Greenhouse at 6 pm.

• Update on CCS Installation- PV2 Contract and Specs have been requested for our review but we suspect, because of the push for a larger system, installation will not happen until the spring. In the meantime, we want to see the contract to assure a lock-in.

• Commercial Energy Use and Mohawk Wind Project- The immediate tasks are to develop an initial concept with numbers and to review the already successful Jiminy Peak Model. A list of surrounding residences will be assembled for future use. Gordon listed a number of obstacles to this plan. Mark Garrett has worked on both the Jiminy Peak project and others in VT and NH that use government land and will speak further with Gordon, Henry and Anne S. Briefly, Mark sited Sustainable Energy Developments of Rochester NY (Ken Schulte) as the contractor and Jay Carliss and himself of Community Energy as the financial developer. There is one height restriction that Anne has a vertical solution for and will provide more information.

• Mark Garrett’s discussion: Mark came to speak about the stepped up residential program and the added programs for new wind produced by Community Energy. He clarified the Version 3 program of the Clean Energy Fund and provided records of Cornwall’s status so far, specifically that they have 85 customers. Mark CE’s wind production explaining that they provide a third each of local wind, national wind and hydro and maintain a surcharge of $.0113. Currently the rebate is $20 for each new customer and they are trying to raise that to $25 by January 1.

• Publicity- Katie attended the NW Conservation League Dinner 10/20 and briefly described what it being done in Cornwall. The Litchfield County Times also covered our process in the 10/9 issue. The November Chronicle has a short item about our current drive to reach 30%.

On Hold: Loans for Small Businesses, NW Corner Update, Transportation Update

Next Meeting: December 6, Saturday at 9:15 am, 10 Pine Street