Kensington Energy Committee, NH

04/28/2026

Kensington Goes Renewable(er)

⚡🌿 Powering Up Renewable Energy for Our Community

🔥 Geothermal HVAC System Activation
Town Hall is now powered by a geothermal HVAC system, providing efficient, renewable heating and cooling. 🌍♻️

☀️ SolSmart Bronze Award
Clean Energy New Hampshire will award Kensington the SolSmart Bronze designation, recognizing our commitment to solar energy and sustainable growth. 🏅🔆

📅 Event Details
Monday, May 4, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Kensington Town Hall

🔗 Learn More & Register
https://nhew26-kensington-goes-green.eventbrite.com

01/16/2026

Link: https://monitoringpublic.solaredge.com/solaredge-web/p/kiosk?guid=6b3467ef-25ac-40c9-bc74-592eb353e245

Great news, neighbors! We have set up a hosted webpage with our Town Hall building's solar panel system's production. This webpage gives cumulative data as well as instant power updates.

Some key highlights of the system so far:
- system came online late July 2025
- lifetime in the past 6 months is about 13,000kWh (or roughly $2600 in town savings)
- the system produces the most energy between April and August so we missed 4 of the 5 best months last year. That means the lifetime up to now is not indicative of the yearly production, but we are indeed on track with our estimated 30-35MWh yearly production
- due to increasing electricity prices, our yearly savings are estimated to exceed our original projection!

As always, reach out if you have questions (or if you're as excited as we are about this project!)

10/03/2025

Drafty Windows? We have a low-cost solution! The Exeter Energy Committee has once
again partnered with the non-profit organization Window Dressers to bring
window inserts to the Exeter area in January 2026. This year we are expanding
our eligible towns to include Exeter, Brentwood, East Kingston, Kensington,
Newfields, and Stratham. Order today!

For more information visit:
exeternh.gov/energy/window-dressers-window-insert-program

07/30/2025

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1655899117980088/posts/4218490638387577/

Send a message to learn more

07/29/2025

While we are very grateful of the NH DOE and federal government for the solar panel grant that was awarded to us last year, NH's move to end the renewable energy fund is truly sad. The program that was directly involved in getting us funding for the 26kW array that we placed on the Town Hall was made possible thanks to this fund. Read more below:

The state’s new budget redirects $15M meant for clean energy, likely ending plans to expand a pilot that funds municipal solar projects.

07/23/2025

Hi neighbors,

For those that don't know, our committee often interacts with a NH group called Clean Energy NH to get advice on local/state energy policies as well as get technical help on projects like our Town Hall solar panel system.

We thought it'd be critical to share this talk from the CEO of the company, Sam Evans Brown (https://www.facebook.com/sam.eb.104), who had relevant things to say about the current energy landscape of NH, the US, and the global market as a whole.

If you get a chance, we strongly recommend taking a look, especially at the Q&A section at the end that goes over some questions we've all had in the past such as "If solar panels are so cheap and great, why do we need subsidies for them? And will the lack of subsidies kill the solar industry?"

YouTube video:

From plummeting solar and battery prices to breakthroughs in electrified transportation, the transition to a cleaner, more efficient energy system isn’t just...

07/10/2025

Final day update: we're all set!

After several hot working days, the crew got a much needed break today and managed to complete the installation of all 60 solar panels. While we work through Jeff's amazing drone footage, here is a still of the East facing roof with 13 of our panels, as well as a short clip of the unfinished main roof. Notice the low profile and near contrast-less black color of the array. This was a critical aesthetic requirement we had to ensure the panels had as minimal an effect on the historic nature of the building as possible. Many thanks to the Heritage Commission for working with us on this final design.

Some more interesting facts about our new system:
- all in all, the 60 panels were split evenly between two 10kW three phase inverters
- for every 2 panels, a DC-DC optimizer is placed to both ensure shading doesn't affect the system as a whole, while providing the critical "rapid shutdown" feature capable of shutting down a solar panel within 300 milliseconds of a power outage (or anomaly in the grid)
- a master emergency shutdown disconnect sits right next to the meter in case of emergencies, easily accessible from the road by any emergency personnel
- the racking system allowed for a near perfect leveling of the array, improving the neatness of the roofline as soon from the ground

An "energizing ceremony" will hopefully take place once all inspections are complete and our new "net metering" meter is installed by Unitil. Thanks for reading

07/04/2025

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Here's an Independence Day themed update on the Kensington Solar Panel project to wrap up the week:

Did you know that the entire solar panel system we're installing is 100% American made? The 3 major components on the system are the Silfab solar panels (made in Washington and South Carolina), the IronRidge racking (made in Texas), and the SolarEdge inverters + optimizers (made in Texas).

If you take a look at the roof of the Town Hall this weekend you'll see the finished racking in place, as well as several of the black boxes on there as well. Those boxes are called Optimizers (seen below). They ensure that every panel can operate safely and independent of the rest of the panels in the case of partial shading.

The larger white boxes we're installing indoors are the 2 inverters. These boxes convert the DC power from the solar panels into AC for us to use (or send back to the grid for monetary compensation).

Stay tuned for our next update this coming week as we wrap up the installation!

07/03/2025

Day 2:

The main roof racking is now complete! The heat has been making it difficult to work on the asphalt but they got it done.

Meanwhile, the electricians have started working on the inverters. These 2 devices will live inside the building. Their job is to not only convert the DC power from the solar panels into AC power (at over 96% efficiency), but to also communicate with the optimizers at each panel to provide valuable data and, in the event of an emergency, shut down production within 300 milliseconds.

We'll have more great done footage from Jeff posted shortly.

07/01/2025

The first day of the Solar Panel project came and went. We put together a short video with some details of the installation that we thought would be fun to share. Here is Zeke Schmois, chair of the Kensington Energy Committee, explaining how the solar panel racking system is being installed on our Town Hall building.

Some corrections:
- There are 2 screws per footing that breaches a roof rafter, and 6 screws if not. This is because the places without a rafter only have the 1'' plywood to attach to and so all 6 screw holes are necessary

More to come tomorrow!

PS: don't mind the absolutely unflattering still image on the preview below. We found now way to edit that out of the YouTube short

The first day came and went. We put together a short video with some details of the installation that we thought would be fun to share. Here is Zeke Schmois,...