Council committee hears administration case to expand distributed-energy revolving fund

Vice Chair Ruchi Li Zhang convened the virtual hearing on Aug. 4 for docket 1223 and introduced Oliver Sellers Garcia, commissioner of the Environment Department, and Chris Kramer, director of the Municipal Energy Unit, to present the proposed ordinance to amend the Distributed Energy Resource Revenue Revolving Fund. Sellers Garcia framed the item as an administrative update to allow the fund to “properly capture demand response revenue and allow for the further development of the city's demand response program,” while maintaining its original purpose.

Chris Kramer explained key terms and the practical effect of the amendment, saying the change would expand revenue sources beyond Boston Public Schools and let the city deposit revenues from demand-response activities across city-owned buildings. Kramer said the city is not currently generating renewable energy certificates from older arrays because supporting inverter equipment is not functioning, and that the proposed changes would allow the city to use revenue to reinstall equipment and enroll more buildings. "The short answer is we're not generating any," Kramer said of SRECs. He also described the amendment as aimed at enabling administrative enrollment and revenue capture rather than creating a new policy program.

Members asked technical and financial questions about how the fund would interact with capital projects and city efforts such as the Renew Boston Trust. Administration officials said the fund is meant to be a self-sustaining revenue stream to support demand-response enrollment and related measures and that it can complement, but not replace, capital-plan-funded upgrades. The committee heard estimates that the amendment could yield roughly $150,000 in additional annual revenue under favorable conditions; Kramer said that figure represents new revenue above current receipts.