Rethinking Housing and Energy
Can power transmission lines between New Castle and Boothbay support a concentrated housing zone without using Non Wire Alternatives?
A few months ago, I saw this notice on the Town of Boothbay website:
:
I responded by email to receive no response and then stopped by the town office to pick up an application but I was told that no such committee existed, which I took to be poppycock, and how politics works in Boothbay where a very closed circle serves its own agenda at the exclusion of all others.
How the grid works
So I thought, I am barred from applying but I can engage in public forums within the Boothbay Register and this newsletter. The leaders responded to that thought by stepping into Register forum to guide the conversation to “more appropriate” venues conducted by leadership, and I wondered what kind of a political culture do they think we are living in? The idea that the town leadership should have authority anywhere and whenever people discuss issues of public import is a measure of the degree to which leadership perceives a town to be a corporation governed by a hierarchy rather than an interactive community,
My last post covered a subject that appeared to be intentionally buried in an article about dogs being walked at the newly reinvented Clifford Park. Therein, with no mention in the title of the article, is told the story of outrageous permit fees charged to discourage a solar farm approved by the planning board from proceeding with its plans and then a decision to place a six-month moratorium on solar farms. Selectman Steve Lewis said “we don’t need more solar farms, we need more housing” as if housing and the load of power used by the community have no connection to each other, other than that each requires land.
Afterward I had a conversation with Geoff Sparrow of Green Lantern Solar who told me about a pilot program that was conducted in Boothbay during 2013-2015. I condensed the story into 350 words as this letter submitted to the editor of the Boothbay Register:
Dear Editor, The Boothbay selectmen placed obstacles in the path of a solar farm that has been approved by the Boothbay planning board, first by charging a $39,204 permit fee far out of proportion to the $900 permit fee charged by Topsham and $800 fee charged by Thorndike for approximately three times the square feet as the plot in Boothbay.
When the company protested, the selectmen decided to place a six-month moratorium on solar farms so they could work out ordinances. Mr. Lewis claims we don’t need solar farms, we need more housing, and Ms. Roberts claims that solar farms are new to the area, which is only partially true since Boothbay was the subject of a pilot study involving non-wire alternatives during 2013-2015.
I am not a energy tech wizard but this is what I got from reviewing the study called Non-Wire Alternatives, Boothbay Maine by Convergent. It was an intervention written in response to CMP’s proposed 15 billion transition line upgrade with 18 million estimated for upgrading the line from Newcastle to Boothbay, which was said to at times exceed its load.
As part of the study, Convergent Energy + Power (Convergent) developed the first energy storage NWA for utility infrastructure right here in Boothbay, which was proven to be cost-efficient and doable and became the model for other places but at that time Boothbay did not have enough of a peak hour overload to justify the investment here.
However, Boothbay is now the location of one of the state’s first concentrated housing zones that will increase our population by at least 20%, which will increase the load on our power transmission lines. Mr. Lewis says that isn’t enough housing, we need more which requires either upgrading our transmission lines or using NWA’s, which are more cost-efficient and lower our carbon emissions.
Reworking our ordinances is a good thing to do. I submit that ordinances should also be reworked regarding concentrated housing zones requiring them to be energy efficient and to be charged a fee if they create too large a burden on our energy infrastructure.
Back in 2015, one would have expected Mr. Lewis to support NWAs as this is what he said back then:
Not only is the Pilot Project putting energy back into the grid, but it is also cutting costs.
Just ask Steve Lewis, the Operations Manager of the Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District.
Lewis said the transfer station used to pay between $800-$1,400 per month for electricity.
Since the solar panels were installed in 2014, the refuse district now pays $80 to $100 per month on the electricity bill. For the sheer size of the facilities, Lewis said the cost savings is “unbelievable.”Pilot project saving energy in Boothbay region
What happened? Boothbay’s Vodka Problem? Enter a developer with a single-minded vision to transform the peninsula into a for-the wealthy-only community. Mr. Coulombe only cares about something in relation to how it applies to his single-minded vision. Like most developers, including Maine State Inc, Coulombe wants to control the entire territory where he operates, and has little tolerance for any other players. If Mr. Coulombe wants STEAM skills to be taught in schools, it isn’t because Mr. Coulombe has an interest in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math, as my Dad had when he created Andersen Design, or like non-wire energy alternatives have when they innovate new solutions, Mr. Coulombe’s interest lies in the parameters of the highest paid jobs which incorporating into the educational system can be used to attract the well-heeled families whom Mr. Coulombe targets as the new inhabitants of his peninsula.
If Mr. Coulombe had a genuine interest in the field of applied STEAM skills. he would be more conscientious about the fragility of our local water supply and the climate change that has become dramatically evident in the last ten years and would not have financed the installation of two new very large asphalt parking lots at Clifford Park where the rain water runs down the hill into our endangered water supply.
Mr. Coulombe collaborates with the state’s central managed economy, as the state’s private partner in the Boothbay Region. The Boothbay select board collaborate with whatever Mr. Coulombe and his anonymous funding partners want, asking only “What can we do to help”” When presented with plans for a concentrated housing zone, did the extra load that a concentrated housing zone will place on the electrical transmission wires that connect the peninsula to the mainland power source ever come up?
When housing is packed more closely together as a “density bonus” as it is in HP 1489-LD 2003, it also is a “power capacity deficit” for the community as the more concentrated the housing, the more load it places on transmission lines. Following suit from the selectmen’s actions toward the solar farm, permit fees can be applied to mitigate the state-mandates in HP1498 requiring concentrated housing zones in every Maine municipality. Ordinances can require energy efficiency in the zones and impose a low carbon emissions threshold, being that the planet is at the point where we absolutely must reduce carbon emissions if we want Earth to remain habitable for human and other forms of life.
But those in charge of writing the ordinances have to have the will to do so. If there is a choice to be made between solar farms and housing then the cost of power will be higher as the housing is then dependent on the transmission lines that connect the peninsula to the main grid than if NWAs (non-wire alternatives) are incorporated into the power infrastructure. If NWA’s are not accommodated, the high-carbon transmission lines have to be redone to meet the load, which makes no sense economically or environmentally. Therefor more densely packed housing developments should be proportionately charged a greater power usage permit fee if they are not energy efficient and are not using NWA to offset the load they are placing on transmission lines.
This is not a conversation that the Boothbay selectboard is having when its members say “we do not need more solar farms, we need more housing units” Really? Is our select board suggesting that maybe workforce housing doesn’t need to be supplied with power? The housing solutions for the workforce are eliminating kitchens, why not power as well?
In its description of “community resources” HP1489 omits power utility resources which are only included by the words “including but not limited to”
1. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings.
A. "Community resources" means services available to the community within a municipality, transportation, schools, recreational opportunities and any other services provided by the municipality. "Community resources" also includes business and employment opportunities within the municipality. HP1498
B. "Priority development zone" means a zone in which owned or rented multifamily housing composed of both market rate units and units that meet the definition of "affordable housing" under section 4301, subsection 1 is permitted at a specified density that is greater than the density allowed in other zones within the municipality. HP1498
However, power utility resources are mentioned in section 4301, subsection 1-a
4301. Definitions
1-A. Cluster development. "Cluster development" means a form of development that allows a subdivision design in which individual lot sizes and setbacks are reduced in exchange for the creation of common open space and recreation areas, the preservation of environmentally sensitive areas, agriculture and silviculture and the reduction in the size of road and utility systems.
How is it possible to “reduce the size of utility systems” “at a specified density that is greater than the density allowed in other zones within the municipality” unless NWAs are used? Solar farms are a component of an NWA system that includes the battery storage system installed by Convergent with a ten-year contract that should be running out around about now but I have not heard any news about it. Keeping my ears open. It seems that the fate of the battery storage system should be part of the conversation.
Upgrading the overloaded transmission line that connects the Boothbay Region to Maine’s broader electricity grid would have required extensive permitting and development, at five times the cost. Convergent’s storage system provided a rapidly deployable alternative, with an execution timeline of six months from procurement to commissioning. In addition to providing grid stability and resilience, Convergent’s energy storage system is also completely emissions-free, an important attribute for Boothbay as a summer tourist destination, said Silkman. Energy storage system ready to alleviate Boothbay power reliabilty problems