Holland s Community Energy Plan - Final Meeting

Transcription

1 Holland s Community Energy Plan Michigan Green Communities Initiative recently hosted a conference call about the City of Holland s energy planning efforts. I was struck by the size and scope of the effort and am wondering if we might recycle some of their ideas in our community and surrounding region? Mark Vanderploeg, Holland City Planner and member of the City s Sustainability Committee, gave an excellent overview of progress to date. Like a growing number of communities around the world, Holland is very serious about energy. The fact that they OWN their power company is significant -- the community is directly responsible for deciding how best to meet future power needs. Faced with aging infrastructure (coal plant) and other economic, environmental, health, and social concerns -- and community has invested heavily in its planning process. Holland, with a population of about 33,000, spent over $200,000 on a consultant to help with planning. (not a lot compared this to $130+ Million the community spends annually on energy - the average annual per capita is about $ ). Holland hired Peter Darfour, a consultant that has worked internationally on energy planning. They also created a 30-person Energy Task Force. A summary of Mark s talk, prepared by Jamie Kidwell, is pasted below: Presentation of Holland s Community Energy Plan (CEP), Mark Vanderploeg, City of Holland What is a CEP, and why is Holland doing it? o CEP aims to look at : How energy is used across various sectors How much fuel is used by trips made in the City How much industrial gas is used Taking stock of energy use and where the city intends to go in the future How should municipalities handle climate change instead of waiting for state and federal regulations CEP Origins o Holland City Council requested information on energy efficiency and energy demand o o Holland Board of Public Works (BPW) distributes electric services City Council and BPW collaborating on how best to address increasing energy demand Process revealed the benefits for Holland as a community CEP as a tool to give Holland a competitive advantage and a way to increase energy security CEP has economic and environmental benefits 1 downloaded 8/18/11

2 CEP will help add 6,000-8,000 jobs over the next decade o Working with a consultant based in Ohio, Garforth CEP Goals o Lower cost energy than neighboring communities o Highly reliable electricity supply from local sources o Industrial Energy Service tailored to investors needs o Flexibility to meet changing technologies, legislation, fuel costs and other market conditions o Meet commitment to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement o Be a leader in developing regional energy productivity strategy City of Holland estimates 10-20% lower costs for users than Consumers customers Framework for CEP o Energy efficiency 25%-35% investment to find megawatt of energy savings Most cost efficient place to start o Heat recovery Holland generates own electric with coal plant and isn t capturing the thermal energy Potential to use more waste energy and for district energy system o Renewable energy Pursue carbon free options where practical Not all of the emphasis should go to renewable due to the cost effectiveness of pursuing o Energy distribution Invest when makes sense Holland Energy Profile o $135 million a year in energy spending o 40-50% conversion loss on energy o Carbon footprint is 24 metric tons per resident in 2010 o High proportion of Holland is industrial use Benchmarking to set a goal for 2050 o Loudoun and Arlington, VA o Guelph, ON o Mannheim o Copenhagen Data o Metered data provided from Holland BPW o Local gas company provided energy use data o CEP divided city into ten districts to plan for demand and to track GHG emissions from various parts of the city o Developed scenarios to guide 40-year plan Scenarios o Scenario A Homes and buildings Aim to retrofit every residential home in the City homes per year Start with getting homes up to existing code

3 Questions Industrial and city energy services Extend opportunities for BPW More service provision by the municipal utility Look into district heating services Transportation and enabling strategies o Scenario B Incorporates solar PV as a strategy to eliminate summer peak o Scenario C Increases volume of solid fuel with 30% biomass Implementation o CEP includes scale projects that have a high probability of implementation and that are economically, socially, environmentally, and operationally attractive Project 1: Industrial Park with Integrated Energy Services Project 2: Historic District Single Family Neighborhood Project 3: Hope College Campus Partnering with college to create district heating system to connect with college campus and public schools Project 4: High School/Hospital/Aquatic Center Benefits o For Holland BPW: Increased fuel flexibility Additional revenues Capacity for sale outside the city Configured for PV peak reduction Future sales of municipal energy service skills to other municipalities Higher returns o For City of Holland: High quality industrial jobs Local labor Higher property values and sales taxes Improved dividends from Holland BPW Reduced GHGs Increased attractiveness for all residents Q: What is the community planning aspect of the process? A: CEP is more of a strategic plan at this point. Have been engaging with stakeholder groups and trying to take the triple-bottom line approach with the plan. We are reaching out to schools, faith-based organizations, and nonprofits. Mayor also put together energy task force with individuals from different sectors of the community. Holland aims to keep process as transparent as possible and engage as many people as possible. Q: How does green economy fit into Holland s CEP? A: Energy sales and economic development key to the plan. Renewables and energy efficiency are part of the plan.

4 Q: Does the plan use targeted industry development? A: No. Holland wanted an integrated approach to reach out to multiple areas and engage the supply chain in various ways. Looking heavily at energy storage. Q: What was the cost of the consultant? A: $200, % of the cost to Holland BPW and 50% to City of Holland. Q: What was the level of effort for the City, since not all communities have their own municipal utilities? A: CEP was a planning process for all communities. Q: Local energy providers only give zip code level energy data to some municipalities. Could MPSC and State Energy Office help municipalities connect with data? Q: How many jobs will this create, or what impact will it have on Holland s workforce? A: Hard to answer. CEP could increase municipal employees or could increase entrepreneurial opportunities. Holland leaning towards creating jobs outside the city workforce, but additional staffing will be required. Q: Can you suggest any paths to increase local control, such as franchise agreements? A: Best place to start to look at examples in Loudoun and Arlington County in Virginia and Guelph in Ontario. These municipalities do not own their own utilities. Some helpful presentations found on the City of Holland s website: ckground_distribute.pdf g_distribute_0.pdf Dear Friends,

5 Do we want to be leaders? What would it mean to be leader? Where are we going with our community? Who are the people with visions who wanna make this vision a reality? What will it take to bring these visions to fruition? What am I doing NOW to make this happen. Do you ever ask yourself, Why can everybody just see the world my way? For those of us that are passionate about what we do it seems like a lot of folks just don t have a clue about what needs to be done. If we could all just work together on this, everything would be much better! describes the way that I imagine many of you feel. I ve been feeling this way about greening our community something I ve been passionate about for 30 years now. I m writing because, like you, I m a little frustrated that