The approval of the Hanover community power plan follows votes in Keene and Harrisville to move forward with plans of their own.
The Hanover plan will give the town more control over what kind of energy is procured so it can choose a more renewable mix of sources. The town’s goal, set in 2017, is to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Some energy experts are hopeful that community power will allow municipalities to secure more favorable pricing than utilities that go to market only twice a year.
Traditionally, the utilities make decisions about where to procure power and they then provide this power to customers and bill them accordingly. But community power allows electric customers to band together and choose for themselves where they get power from.