John Scarffe, Nederland.  Nederland area residents packed the Multi-Purpose Room at the Nederland Community Center at 7 p.m. on July 18, 2017, for a meeting of the Nederland Board of Trustees, but not enough Trustees showed up to have a quorum.

After a brief telephone call to the Town attorney, Mayor Kristopher Larsen announced that information items could be presented to the Board, but no action could be taken.

Trustees in attendance were Alan Apt, Larsen and Mayor Pro-Tem Charles Wood.

Trustees Topher Donahue, Julie Gustafson, Dallas Masters and Kevin Mueller were absent. Town Clerk LauraJane Baur announced that she is test driving the system for streaming meetings live tonight and will announce publicly before the next meeting that they will be streaming it live.

The majority of the public in attendance came to support a proposal for 100 percent renewable energy in Nederland. Magnolia area resident Eyrca Thorley told the Board that she represented Climate Together of Nederland. The group came to the meeting to ask the Board to pass a resolution on August 15 transitioning the Town’s electricity supply to 100 percent renewable energy sources by 2032.

Thorley has training with the Climate Reality Project and learned how renewable energy is taking off all over the United States. It’s feasible, realistic and not too hard to achieve. She accompanied her presentation with slides.

“We’ve held meetings every two weeks, and a number of members of the community have joined on,” Thorley said. “We’ve done our research and met with multiple experts to get as much information as we can.”

Mayor Larsen said he has signed on to the Mayor’s Climate Alliance and the Board has signed the Paris Agreements. The agreements aim to limit global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and return to 2005 level greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, according to the presentation. “A 100 percent renewable resolution helps Nederland meet these goals with defined actions.”

Thirty seven cities including Aspen, Boulder and Pueblo have signed on for renewable energy, Thorley said, and Nederland would be the fourth city. It fits in with other initiatives the Board as approved including Vision 2020 and will help with a healthy environment and economy.

The Town could save three to seven percent per year with solar installations, creating stable rates for 20 to 30 years through third-party financing, Thorly said. A number of businesses in Boulder County are interested in working with Climate Together.

Jennifer Moore, director of the Mountain Planet Program, lives in the Caribou area and said she cares about the community. She has been doing research on options for Nederland, including rooftop solar and solar gardens, which are a really cool way to participate.

The groundwork has been laid for communities to create their own solar initiatives, such as the Community Solar Gardens Act in 2010. In 2012, Governor Ritter approved virtual net metering and changed access to renewable energy systems for people otherwise limited, Moore said.

For a Nederland solar garden, the town could use the grid that already exists, Moore said. It could be built with a five-to-10-acre lot or a few smaller parcels combined. A 1.5 mega-watt system would power the municipality, residences and businesses and could extend to residents outside of town.

Making it work will require land, customers and financing. The Climate Together group has received a lot of support from owners of businesses including Salto, Cross Cut Pizza and the Caribou Shopping Center, where the rooftop was offered, Moore said.

Nederland doesn’t have to come up with money upfront.

In summary, today’s technology, economics and the desire of the Nederland community make bringing renewable energy to Nederland the right choice, Thorley said. “We hope the Board of Trustees and mayor agree to make a renewable energy sourced electricity supply possible for our town and its community.”

Larsen asked the group if they have spoken with Xcel Energy yet, and Moore said they were waiting for a go-ahead from the Board. “If it turns out they don’t want to work with us, it doesn’t mean we can’t do smaller projects.” Thorley said other providers are out there.

Larsen suggested more of a mixed portfolio with wind and asked why wait for 15 years to accomplish this. Moore said they didn’t want to create something that was undoable.

Wood said the Board has looked at this a couple of different times, but the economics were tough for the town budget. “We would be up here with all the sun and wind, and we would be a good candidate.”

Larsen said the advantage is it really isn’t on the Town. “We’re helping to facilitate it, but it would require residents buying in.” Thorley said that only one provider can do 40 percent of the project.

Moore said they could work with a subcommittee of the Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB) on the groundwork. “Once we do it, we’ll find it’s a win/win and won’t need upfront financing.”

Wood said that he would be happy to buy in from a personal basis without the hassle of putting panels on his roof. “I’m all for it.” Trustee Apt said that towns that have started it sold out almost immediately. “That’s the exciting thing about it.”

Kelly Grebe with SAB said the Board is 100 percent behind it and would like to have a collaborative effort. “In my short experience on SAB, we can do some task-based things. “This is an organized, energized effort.”

Mario Molina, international director with the Climate Reality Project, said he has seen this work in many different countries. A complete transformation is happening in Germany, and a small town called Veel started it. Now Germany has become the leading country.

“Can we do this? Yes. Get on board now,” Molina said. “It is not a job for two or three people. Leverage with Xcel will come if the town commits. We want to make it available to the town. Technology and finances are not a problem. We need political will.”

Nederland resident Lester Karplus said he has been involved in solar energy for a long time, and he is really interested in this way of looking at renewables. The solar garden concept is awesome. You don’t have to pay anything. Just sign up.

Carly Rixham, executive director of the American Solar Energy Association in Boulder, said that the economics are there, and solar gardens are there. “Louisville can set us up with everything we need. Education is a big piece of this. I think we can do this and the time is now. We have the investment tax credits available now.”

Larsen said: “This is the best presentation I’ve seen brought forward. We need to move forward in five years.” He said he will work with the group in the next couple of weeks on a resolution.

(Originally published in the July 27, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)