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Temple's Renewable Energy

Task Force

Temple citizens approved a Warrant Article, initiated by the Energy Committee, at the 2018 Town Meeting requesting the establishment of a task force to recommend options for transitioning our municipal energy usage to 100% renewables by 2030. 

The Task Force Mission:

Provide Temple citizens with viable, cost-effective options for converting our municipal energy usage to 100% renewable energy by 2030.

Task Force Actions:

      We have collected several years of electricty usage data for Temple’s municipal                  sector to assess the demand for each building. 

  • We have held meetings with directors of the NH Community Development Finance Authority and Clean Energy NH to discuss financial assistance options for renewable energy installations.

  • We have invited three reputable renewable energy installers to conduct site visits for our FD and Municipal Building, review our energy usage data and recommend renewable energy installations.

  • We have examined the amount of available solar power throughout the year using a solar pathfinder for 5 prospective sites in town, eventually selecting one, largely for its potential energy productivity and beneficial location.  

  • We will hold the designed array recommendation ready to present to the Select Board hold a public hearing, and present it in a Warrant Article at Town Meeting once sufficient financial options become available. 

  • On another track, we requested and received the authorization from our Select Board to proceed  with an evaluation of the opportunity offered by the passage of Senate Bill 286 in  2019, which allows towns to establish Community Power Plans for greater local control and reduced costs for the electricity needs of their entire community. 

  • We held two public hearings, November 30 and December 6, to bring our recommendations for Community Power to our citizens.

  • We offered a Warrant Article for approval at the 2024 Town Meeting to move forward to establish a Community Plan to provide lower electricity costs and more energy independence to our entire community.  

  • We received Select Board and our town's lawyer's approval to join the Community Power Coalition, formed to strengthen member towns' voices in working with the Public Utilities Commission, energy source providers and the utilities.

  • In October, a Temple Community Power website will be launched with information and Frequently Asked Questions about our town's Community Power Plan. It can be seen here:  www.communitypowernh.gov/temple-construction  

  • We will hold open public sessions to provide time for public questions to be answered regarding CPP on August 26 at 5 PM and September 7 at 10 AM at Town Hall.

Our Plan Going Forward

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We will assist in the oversight of installations and financial arrangements for whichever renewable energy sources have been selected until we reach 100% renewable power for Temple's municipal sector by 2030.

 

And we will continue working work with Clean Energy NH and our townsfolk to successfully manifest our Community Power Plan for Temple and launch our membership in the NH Community Power Coalition in October, 2024. This will honor the approval by our citizens of a warrant article at our 2024 Town Meeting requesting the creation of a Community Power Plan for our town. Its membership in the CP Coalition follows our Select Board's approval as well as that of our town's lawyers.

Reasons for Switching to Renewables 
And Combat the Intensification of Climate Change

1. To reduce NH’s predicted rise in excessive heat, with its consequential health

    impacts.
2. To reduce harms to NH’s farms from more intensive droughts & floods.

3. To reduce the influx of harmful new invasive insect species in NH

4. To reduce taxes for climate-driven billion-dollar disasters - in 2020, we had 22 and

    in 2023, the 28 climate disasters we had cost $92.9 billion. Plus increased local &      state taxes for damages to roads, bridges, etc. from increasingly destructive

    storms.
5. To reduce impacts on NH’s business & tourist industries - from unpredictable ski 

    seasons; less foliage tourism from losses of maples and the diminishing maple

    syrup business; fewer beach tourists from beach erosion; loss of hunting fees &

    business from out-of-state hunters due to prey die-offs from exploding winter tick

    populations.

6. To reduce harms to NH’s fishing industry from warmer ocean water already

    depleting cod and lobster stocks as well as tourist fishing due to the warmer

    fresh water which is decimating our Brook Trout stocks.
7. To support quality NH jobs in the state's renewable energy industry
8.  For cost savings - from 2014-17 alone, small-scale solar saved $1.1 billion for NE      utilities and customers.

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