Chilmark Energy Committee

The Chilmark Energy Committee, appointed by The Board of Selectmen, is an advisory group to the select board and the town at large focused on municipal and community-wide energy issues. These include energy efficiency and resiliency and the transition to renewable energy.

Update: Island Energy Transition Progress

The Chilmark Energy Committee participates in a variety of Island-wide activities focused on addressing the climate change crisis by lowering our use of fossil fuels and increasing our energy system resilience. As members of the Vineyard Sustainable Energy Committee, we have achieved a number of important goals in partnership with the other town energy committees, the MVC, and Vineyard Power.

Three major joint projects have been successfully carried out:

• Enrolling all six Island towns in the Commonwealth’s Green Communities program, resulting in state energy efficiency grants for the towns that so far total more than $1M;
• Developing aspirational energy transformation goals for the Island that have been adopted by all six towns through Town Meeting votes; and
• Creating an Island energy consumption model that allows us to measure our progress in achieving those goals.

A recently released report, Island Energy Update 2022, provides more detail on the current state of our energy system as well as a town-by-town list of key accomplishments. The report can be accessed by uploading the following file: Island Energy Update 2022

Current Energy Committee Activities

• Installation of a DC Fast Charger (Level 3 charger) for electric vehicles in the town center. This will be the first public fast charger on the Island and is expected to be available by mid-summer 2023.
• Working with the Firehouse/Ambulance facility building committee on the provision of EV chargers, heat pump heating and cooling, and solar readiness for these new facilities.
• Similarly, working with the Chilmark School upgrade committee to complete the HVAC installation and building envelope project.
• Development of an initial scoping plan for solar PV, battery storage, and microgrid-based resilience for the Town Hall, Firehouse, and Ambulance buildings. This project is being done jointly with the National Renewable Energy Lab as a participant in their Energy Transformation Initiative Partnership Program.