Andover
The town of Andover, New Hampshire, with a population of 2,371, ranks 125th among 234 NH cities and towns in size. Yet after participating in Solarize Kearsarge between November 2014 and the end of January 2015, Andover ranked sixth among New Hampshire cities and towns in the total number of applications approved by the NH Public Utilities Commission (PUC), with 36 solar rebates on record (as of May). And the town placed fifth in the state for rebates per capita, with one for every 66 residents. Thank you, Solarize Upper Valley — and Sarah Simonds in particular.
Derry
On October 20th, the Derry Town Council approved a proposal to replace 930 streetlights with new LED fixtures. This project was initiated by the success of the downtown streetlight conversion pilot project in FY 2015 to install LED fixtures for 36 streetlights along East Broadway, West Broadway and the Abbott Court parking lot. The cost savings have been dramatic with a 70% reduction in usage and a payback of less than three years. The expanded, town-wide retrofit is scheduled for spring of 2016 and is expected to have a payback of 3.7 years, including an Eversource rebate. The town also expects that this project will cut the town’s annual electric streetlight bill in half.
Durham
The Durham Energy Committee gratefully received approval for its 651 kW DC solar array project from both the Lee selectmen (who had to approve a property tax pilot) and the Durham Town Council (who had to grant the Durham administrator signing authority for the 20-year deal). When this new array comes online by June 2016, 100% of our town’s non-wastewater related electricity use will be on renewable energy. ReVision Energy and IGS Solar are their partners in this project which will be financed through a Power Purchase Agreement and enjoyed the support of a $501,000 grant from the NH PUC. They are also pleased to have had 20 or more electric cars, over a hundred attendees, and dozens of test drives at their National Drive Electric Week event on September 20th and are looking forward to next year’s event.
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