Renewable Energy Tour
Community Power in Nashua
The Energy Department is working hard to bring Community Power to Nashua. Community Power will allow the City to use its buying power, as a collective, to purchase electricity on behalf of its residents in order to maintain low energy prices and gain control over where our energy comes from. The utility will still maintain control of the delivery portion of the energy bill. To accomplish this goal, Nashua joined 12 other communities in the state to create the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire. Together, the coalition is working to streamline the process for authorizing Community Power by sharing services and staff support, participating in joint power solicitations, sharing knowledge, collaborating regionally on clean energy and resilient infrastructure development, and advocating for Community Power to the legislature and Public Utilities Commission. Stay tuned for updates on the process. In the meantime, visit the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire website and the Community Power presentation slides to learn more.
Livable Nashua's Energy Goals
Clean Energy and Reducing GHGs
Energy Manager Doria Brown talks through Nashua's big climate goals for clean energy and reducing GHGs.
Livable Nashua's Energy Goals
What is a Kilowatt Hour?
Ever read your energy bill and gloss over a kilowatt hour? Energy Manager Doria Brown breaks it down!
Hydro Power Production
Generating Our Own
The energy we use to light, heat, and cool, our homes and businesses comes from different sources. Some of these sources, like oil and natural gas, pollute our environment and are in limited supply. Clean, renewable energy, like the City-owned hydro dams generate pollution-free electricity for Nashua that is readily available. Nashua now owns two hydro dams; Jackson Mills and Mine Falls (acquired in 2017). The City is in the process of applying for a new license for Mine Falls and is upgrading the turbine at Jackson Mills as part of our commitment to renewable energy.
UNIT | A megawatt hour (Mwh) is equal to 1,000 Kilowatt hours (Kwh). It is equal to 1,000 kilowatts of electricity used continuously for one hour. It is about equivalent to the amount of electricity used by about 330 homes during one hour. | MWhMegawatt Hour |
| A megawatt hour (Mwh) is equal to 1,000 Kilowatt hours (Kwh). It is equal to 1,000 kilowatts of electricity used continuously for one hour. It is about equivalent to the amount of electricity used by about 330 homes during one hour. | MWhMegawatt Hour |
Hydro Power Production
Electricity Generation
The graph to the left shows the energy generation of Nashua's two hydro dams by quarter. Owning and keeping these assets generating as a community resource is one way that the City of Nashua is taking advantage of the resource that is the Nashua River and continuing the heritage of powering the community with it.
Solar in Nashua
Powered by the Sun
Clean, renewable energy, like the privately-owned solar panels throughout Nashua, generate pollution-free electricity using a source that is in endless supply- the sun. Here we are looking at generation capacity – which is the maximum amount of electricity that could be produced by all of the solar panels in Nashua under perfect conditions.
UNIT | Kilowatts measure power. For example, the capacity of a solar panel. Kilowatt hours show the amount of energy generated or used in a given amount of time. For example, the amount of power a solar panel generated over a year or the amount of energy used by a building over a year. | kW vs. kWhKilowatt vs. kilowatt hour |
| Kilowatts measure power. For example, the capacity of a solar panel. Kilowatt hours show the amount of energy generated or used in a given amount of time. For example, the amount of power a solar panel generated over a year or the amount of energy used by a building over a year. | kW vs. kWhKilowatt vs. kilowatt hour |
Solar in Nashua
Solar on Schools!
Big solar projects are on the horizon for Nashua's public schools as we turn empty roof space into an asset for generating clean energy.
Teachers may not like smart phones in schools, but with the size of the solar project going in at Fairgrounds Middle School, you could charge over 69 million of them! Combined with the system on Dr Crisp Elementary, the schools will be producing the equivalent amount of energy as 140 single family households. Once the middle school is complete, Nashua will have 5 solar projects on our schools alone.
Solar in Nashua
What You Can Do!
Reducing energy use and transitioning to solar is something that can be done on the individual level, as well.
