On Monday, January 25th, Granite State ASHRAE held a webinar about solar energy in New Hampshire with Madeleine Mineau, the Executive Director of Clean Energy NH. Madeleine dove right into Clean Energy NH’s mission and advocacy for the state, stating that solar is one of the fastest growing renewable energies, yet New Hampshire has the lowest numbers in New England. Maine is undergoing a solar energy boom due to policy change and is expected to grow solar significantly over the next few years while New Hampshire grows at a moderate rate.
Despite New Hampshire being last in New England for solar energy, the state created $3 million in CO2 benefits in 2019, removing the equivalent of 6,000 cars from roadways. From 2014 to 2019 New Hampshire saved $83 million from solar. New Hampshire is working for a more solar future but not at the same rate as neighboring states. Massachusetts, clearly a leader in solar energy saved $513 million from solar from 2014 to 2019.
Mineau stated that New Hampshire set a goal to be 25% renewable by 2025. The ISO New England, the grid operator for the entire New England grid, is projecting that New Hampshire will have 19.3 MW of annual total solar for 2021. Mineau mentioned there is very low operational costs for solar compared to other types of renewables.
Wrapping up the webinar Mineau went beyond the solar discussion to mention the opportunities ongoing in the Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) which is undergoing development for 2021 to 2023 and more opportunities for heat pump conversions through rebates. Clean Energy NH is working to improve overall energy savings.
Check out Granite State ASHRAE's website.
Check out Clean Energy NH's website.
