By Patsy Beffa-Negrini, Originally Published in The Monadnock Shopper News, Green Monadnock column, May 2025.
We all rely on the electric grid: businesses, hospitals, long-term care facilities, schools, fire and police stations, municipalities, renters, and homeowners. Our current electric grid, which we take for granted, is entering a new chapter. In the first chapter, the grid didn’t grow because, thanks to innovations in energy efficiency, it didn’t need to. I bet you’ve purchased LED lighting and Energy Star appliances like refrigerators and electric dryers, which helped your budget and reduced stress on the grid.
Today, the grid opens a new chapter as we strive toward a world free from carbon pollution. That vision necessitates electrifying transportation with electric vehicles and replacing fossil-fuel-burning appliances with efficient heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and induction cooktops that can run on clean power. Meanwhile, political trends are bringing manufacturing back to the United States, and data centers are helping support the energy demands of artificial intelligence (AI). Experts state, “globally, data center electricity demand will double in the next three years.”1 Our region’s grid operator, ISO New England, reports that although our energy use decreased in the past 20 years, it will increase by 11% over the next decade.2
What does that mean locally? My small, rural hometown of Nelson has made significant progress toward this energy transition. If America runs on Dunkin’, Nelson runs on Sunshine. Last year, three homes down the road installed solar arrays.
Progress also occurred at the municipal level. Between 2016 and 2020, Nelson completed energy audits and weatherization projects on town buildings, receiving a 50% rebate from Eversource. We also installed solar panels on our library and a ground-mounted solar array at Nelson’s Highway and Safety complex. Our latest project involved rooftop solar on the Town Hall, a historic building. Finding no acceptable alternative locations and receiving approval from our town historian, unobtrusive solar panels were installed on this optimal, south-facing roof. The great thing is that the newer panels generate 450 watts each, nearly double the output of the panels installed eight years ago.
In 2022, the town replaced three fossil-fuel-burning furnaces with heat pumps. A Green Energy Capital Reserve Fund was approved the following year, with an initial deposit of $25,000 raised through taxes. That same year, the selectboard approved joining Cheshire Community Power, becoming the first town in New Hampshire to join a countywide energy aggregation plan. These initiatives reduced our carbon footprint and set a positive example for other towns.
Nelson is typically open to clean energy efforts. However, this year, there was a glitch. Let’s go back to the grid.
Building grid infrastructure (poles, wires, substations, solar farms) is costly and time-consuming. Utilities know this and want to install small batteries in as many places as possible. Eversource offered to pay 50% of a battery installation project in Nelson. The municipality could use the batteries for resilience during weather emergencies. Eversource would use the batteries to offset peak loads on the grid. The company thought Nelson was a great candidate for this project, but residents voted it down.
Nelson’s ratepayers needed more education about batteries and what the grid, meaning all of us, is facing. Education is necessary due to misinformation about batteries and their economics. For example, there are many types of batteries, and those installed for municipal and home use are unlikely to cause fires. Although battery prices are about half what they were a short while ago, they are still expensive and only last about 10 years, depending on use. However, their benefits — resilience during severe weather events and the ability to offset peak grid loads — outweigh the costs. We should view batteries more like insurance than a way to economize: insurance against severe weather events and for strengthening and stabilizing the grid.
Where does Nelson and your town go from here? Think small steps. Nelson didn’t get anything done overnight. Educate yourself about the electric grid and batteries. Encourage your selectboard and energy committee members to attend the Monadnock Sustainability Hub’s Annual Energy Roundtables and work with our regional Circuit Rider from Clean Energy New Hampshire. Your town can follow Nelson’s lead, learn about clean energy, fund green municipal projects, consider battery backup, buttress our grid, and run on sunshine!
- Jacobs, M. Can the Electric Grid Keep Up with Data Centers’ Demands? Catalyst. Winter 2025, pg. 22.
- Walton, R. ISO New England prepares for 11% rise in annual electricity consumption. Utility Dive. May 7, 2025
Patricia Beffa-Negrini, Ph.D., is a retired Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist who lives in Nelson and is a board member of the Monadnock Sustainability Hub, a New Hampshire nonprofit that aims to cut emissions in our region and thus address climate pollution. She is also a member of the NH Network’s Plastics Working Group. Her email is nelsoncommunitypower@gmail.com.