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SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE



               The Sustainability Committee was formed in February, 2013, with a charter to help the town to
               reduce its energy costs and usage.  We have undertaken a number of initiatives with the DPW in
               regards to energy efficiency  within town buildings, but  the main  focus of the  committee has
               been the development of a 1 MW Solar Array on the town's closed landfill.  In May of 2104, at
               town meeting, the project was approved by a unanimous vote and we had our mandate to move
               forward.  During March of 2015, we got the signed PPA and Lease agreement done with Borrego
               Solar, and PILOT agreed. We also received our interconnection agreement from National Grid.
               In May 2015 we received approval from DEP to move forward with an official closure permit
               and post closure usage permit for the landfill.  We also received our special permit from the ZBA
               to move forward.  As described in last year’s report we hit a bump in the road when the State
               reached its Cap on Net Metering credits effectively stopping the project.  Thankfully that issue
               was resolved in March 0f 2016 and we were back on track.  After working through a number of
               last contract details including the Financing and the PILOT, we started construction in November
               of 2016.  Construction was completed in January of 2107 and we expect to go live sometime in
               the spring of 2017.



                                            SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE

               The Sustainability Committee was formed in Feb 2013 with a charter to help the town to reduce
               its energy costs and usage.  We have undertaken a number of initiatives with the main focus
               being on the development of a 1 MW Solar Array on the town's closed landfill.  In May of 2104
               at town meeting the project was approved by a unanimous vote and we had our mandate to move
               forward.  During March of 2015, we got the signed PPA and Lease agreement done with Borrego
               Solar, and PILOT agreed. We also received our interconnection agreement from National Grid.
               In May we received approval from DEP to move forward with an official closure permit and post
               closure usage permit for the landfill.  We also received our special permit from the ZBA to move
               forward.  Our project was in the queue and ready to go when the State reached it’s Cap on Net
               Metering credits effectively stopping the project until the House and Senate can agree on a bill to
               raise the cap on NMC's.  We have no timetable on when that may happen and are in a holding
               pattern until it does.   Committee members include:   Gregory Netland (Chair), Marc Aronson,
               Lauren Laplant, and Keith Sampson.












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