The Utilities Committee came together on Dec. 5 for a lightly attended meeting during the holiday season. Chairman, Lynn Wiles, had some new information about the community aggregation plan after talking to Town Manager, Mike Malaguti, on behalf of the energy subcommittee.
“The draft aggregation plan was submitted for legal review,” said Wiles, who expected to have the legal process completed within a week and did not expect any complications. “I think once we have that, then we can start planning the next steps, which is scheduling the public hearings.”
If approved, the first public hearing would be with the Town Council before bringing the aggregation plan before scheduling a more extensive meeting to get input directly from Londonderry residents. Colonial Power and Freedom Logistics have already submitted a notice of intent to regulators in Concord, although the Utilities Committee had not yet gotten a response from the state.
“It sounds like the whole process is gaining some traction,” Wiles noted.
There was a similar discussion on forming a heating oil and propane community aggregation plan, although most of it was informal, and the Chairman referred to it as more of a “discussion” than a plan. The Town Manager is still reviewing the possibility of gas and oil aggregation, as were town attorneys.
Committee member, Mike Speltz, was doing work on solar battery storage for Londonderry.
“I sent an email to a company in Texas that sent us an inquiry, but I haven’t heard back from them, and it was several weeks ago,” said Speltz. “I had the impression they were going to get back to me, I’ll ping them again.”
It was unclear how serious the original pitch for a solar plan was. If approved, the town could lease land for solar generation and storage.
Speltz also gave an overview of his search to find state or federal grants for Londonderry.
“There’s a lot of grant opportunities out there, I’ve been reviewing them as best I can, I haven’t found anything that is really a close fit other than a block grant we’re already working on said, Speltz. However, he did mention that many grants for low and medium-income towns might fit some of Londonderry’s low and medium-income households. “I’ve been looking for an opportunity to get something going for their benefit, or even a mix. I’d certainly be willing to travel up to Concord just to have an office visit up there.”
He promised to talk with the Committee State Representative Liaison, Ron Dunn, who couldn’t make the meeting while raising the possibility of contacting the NH Department of Energy for more advice.
The Utilities Committee is scheduled to meet on the first Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. on the first floor of the Moose Hill Council Chambers. All subcommittee meeting dates are published on the Londonderry town website.