Cristián Casanueva

This fall I worked at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) as a clean energy intern. I worked over three significant projects, Green Communities Inventory, Newton Net Zero Program and Large-Scale Renewable Energy Projects based on Virtual Power Purchase Agreements.

MAPC is a public agency governed by its representatives from each city and town, as well as gubernatorial appointees and designees of major public agencies. Each municipality belongs to one of eight subregions, each led by one MAPC staff member. Each subregion includes municipal officials and regional and community stakeholders.

The Green Communities Inventory Program is part of the Green Community Designation and Grant Program, which is a roadmap along with financial and technical support to municipalities.  Over the Green Communities Inventory Program, the MAPC consolidates and evaluates information about the energy usage of cities and towns that are trying to reduce their energy consumption by 20% in 5 years. My job was to analyze data from Beverly and Marlborough, and evaluated if the city reduced or not energy usage. Based on their baseline of energy consumption and information provided by Massachusetts Energy Insight, I analyzed public buildings, vehicles, street lights, among others.

Net Zero goal-setting, planning, and implementation is a way to advance a community’s carbon mitigation efforts. Net Zero planning offers a framework to form a scope of work and definition of Net Zero to each city and town. The City of Newton wants to develop a roadmap of Net Zero. While the pivot plan was developed in 2017, the new mayor wanted something different than the past administration. Alongside the team of Clean Energy, we develop a strategic plan which included a survey to understand community needs and critical stakeholders. I was in charge of the survey, and I found that the primary concern among residents from the City of Newton was the absence of solar panels and electric stations to charge cars. Representatives from the community and some advocates claimed this issue. The results of the survey were presented to the Mayor. Nowadays, MAPC is conducting a round of interviews to leverage more data based on the results of the survey.

Following the model of Boston University, MIT, Boston Medical Center, and Tufts University, MAPC is looking for Large-Scale Renewable Energy projects for the city. The approach is to increase renewable energies in Massachusetts with virtual power purchase agreements (VPPA). VPPA is a financial agreement where the buyer buys energy from a generator setting a price to pay over 10 or 15 years. The buyer gets the RECs, and it helps to clean the grid. The advantage of this type of projects is that the buyer does not rely on the location. Energy could come from the south of the country to the northeast. The MAPC started a working group to evaluate the chance to do one of these projects for cities, and my role was to research VPPA and places where it is possible to develop Large-Scale Renewable Energy projects.

I enjoyed my time at MAPC. The agency has a great team determinate to make an impact and cooperate with cities. It provides spaces to share thoughts every moment. Departments work coordinated, and in many projects, they are intertwined to develop a project. I will encourage to the students of the City Planning and Urban Affairs Program to apply for positions and internships at MAPC. MAPC is a place where you can apply and develop skills provided by the City Planning and Urban Affairs Program.