Federal project offers review of Shelter Island’s energy use:

What’s in Shelter Island’s future when it comes to energy use? Don’t expect changes tomorrow, but among the possibilities could be an expansion of solar energy, use of hydroelectric energy, geothermal and/or micro-grid energy.

Those were leading possibilities, according to Deputy Supervisor Meg Larsen who has spent about a year in talks with representatives of other island communities in a program paid for by the Federal Department of Energy.

The representatives met virtually every other week with experts to guide them through the process of examining their existing energy systems that mean greater resiliency than existing systems currently in operation in each community.

Participants in the program — the Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project — were chosen from among applicants from Alaska and Hawaii to Maine, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Puerto Rico.

The participants get no financial grants but are chosen because their communities have “unique physical features that fundamentally shape what energy options are available,” according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) site Ms. Larsen identified as the source of information about the Project.

With group meetings ended, Shelter Island will move forward with guidance from NREL experts to examine the leading alternatives to its existing energy systems.

Looking back at the technical assistance Shelter Island has received through its participation in the Project, Ms. Larsen said it has included:

• Providing case studies of residential solar done on the Island to show the cost benefit analysis.

• Assessing community needs to determine achievable goals for resilient energy transitions.

• Providing the building blocks to develop strategic energy plans and incorporate them into existing plans.

There’s already solar power in use by a few residential property owners and some use on commercial structures. Expanding its use has been a major objective for the Town in terms of green energy possibilities.

The exploration on the Island will be of solar power with and without batteries, Ms. Larsen said.

Systems without batteries would be directly attached to a grid, resulting in lower costs and greater simplicity of operation. Conversely, geothermal energy is banned on the Island, Ms. Larsen said. But the ban was adopted in 2009 when thermal energy involved only deep penetration into the ground. Today there is “shallow geothermal,” she said.

Shelter Island  prohibits geothermal heating and cooling systems “to protect the Town’s unique and limited freshwater resources,” according to its Town Code.

Those who enacted the ban based the decision on the existence of a single source aquifer from which to draw groundwater since it’s cut off from fresh groundwater inflow from adjacent areas. But that wouldn’t be the case with a shallow geothermal system, Ms. Larsen said.

The option of hydroelectric energy uses moving water to generate electricity and could be a clean energy power for the Town to employ, she said.

The experts from NREL will be guiding the examination of the alternatives specifically for the Island’s needs with an aim of making the Town more environmentally friendly, Ms. Larsen said. The initial move would involve a look at public buildings in the Center to determine their energy demands.