Sustainability director outlines municipal decarbonization roadmap work, ESCO procurement and MVP grant next steps

Samantha, Concord’s sustainability director, told the Climate Action Committee the town is actively working on three parallel efforts: a municipal decarbonization roadmap through the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Green Communities program, a municipal energy services company (ESCO) request-for-qualifications (RFQ), and pursuit of a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant proposal.

"That is an effort that is currently underway for us to develop a decarbonization roadmap," Samantha said, describing a DOER technical-assistance cohort that assigned PowerOptions as the consultant to build a community-specific roadmap. She said the town supplied a spreadsheet template and that staff are populating building- and fleet-level energy data, relying on facilities staff for system- and asset-level details.

Samantha explained the DOER roadmap is intended as a high-level planning tool to support applications for Climate Leaders certification under the Green Communities program and to inform project prioritization. She said the roadmap is one of several criteria for certification and that certification could open access to larger funding opportunities; she said communities might be eligible for funding "upwards of a million dollars" for certain grant opportunities tied to Green Communities programs.

On procurement, Samantha reported progress drafting an ESCO RFQ and noted that procuring an ESCO typically requires a comprehensive inventory of municipal buildings and energy use data. She said the RFQ will be routed to DOER for review before public posting and that facilities staff are supplying building cards and historical energy use where available.

Samantha also updated members on the MVP program. She said the town’s expression of interest submitted in November prompted encouraging feedback and that DOER recommended the committee submit a full MVP proposal with partner organizations (Metro Area Planning Council and ORS). "Proposals are due April 4," she said, noting the timeframe is imminent and that she expected to coordinate with partners and the committee on the final application.

Committee members asked about how much involvement the town would have in shaping consultant products and how funding uncertainty could affect the roadmap and ESCO processes; Samantha said DOER described the roadmap as a higher-level product and that more detailed ESCO analyses would follow procurement. She also asked volunteers to review draft RFQ language and to help collect building data for both the roadmap and procurement processes.