Energy Committee Elects Debbie Cook as New Chair

Alternative Energy Committee · Meeting of October 8, 2026

COHASSET — The Cohasset Alternative Energy Committee elected Debbie Cook as chair, succeeding Tanya Bodell, at its October 8 reorganization meeting. Members voted 5-0-1, with Cook abstaining, and separately nominated Doran Hole as vice chair pending Select Board approval of a membership swap with Chris Oddleifson. Oddleifson reported the town's solar array produced about 63,600 kilowatt hours in September, generating a $11,334 net benefit and pushing 2026 year-to-date benefit to $87,491, with lifetime benefits nearing $650,000.

Associate member Doran Hole told the committee National Grid engineers said substations in Norwell and Scituate currently have capacity to absorb more solar, a finding Hole said "says the opposite of what we heard" in a prior denial letter sent to member Steven Wenner over his rooftop solar application. Bodell reported the long-stalled school rooftop solar project, dating to 2010, remains paused while the School Committee considers forming its own solar committee.

In the full story:

• Welcome and Roll Call
• Approval of Minutes
• Town Staff Report: Climate Leaders and Decarbonization Roadmap
• Town Staff Report: EV Charger Replacement
• Town Staff/Chris Oddleifson Report: Solar and EV Charging Performance
• Committee Reorganization
• National Grid Liaison Update
• Brockton Clean Energy Seminar
• School Solar Project Status
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report: 2,902 words

Source: the Alternative Energy Committee meeting of October 8, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript. It was corrected where it differed.