What Happened?
Cities across the country are tapping into state and federal grants designed to encourage the use of clean energy technologies by agencies and businesses.
Fredonia
The Fredonia Village Board in New York received a $190,341 grant from the National Grid Energy Initiative to pay for the installation of new energy-saving electric blowers at the city’s waste water treatment plant, Buffalo News reported.
The total cost of the two 250 horse-power electric blowers is $450,430, and Fredonia will cover the difference after applying the grant. Each year, the two electric blowers are expected to generate $69,000 in energy savings for the waste water treatment plant. This means the blowers will essentially pay for themselves within a four-year period, Buffalo News reported.
The National Grid Energy Initiative in New York is a utility rebate program available to commercial, industrial, nonprofit, schools, government and multifamily residential sectors. Rebates are available for a variety of energy-saving tools including:
- Lighting
- Controls
- Vending equipment
- Refrigeration equipment
- Compressed air measures
- Engineering studies
The National Grid provides participating organizations with a free energy audit and follow-up report of recommendations for improving energy efficiency. The National Grid will pay up to 70 percent of the cost of installing the equipment if all recommended changes are made.
Massachusetts
The state of Massachusetts recently awarded $18.4 million in grants to municipalities with plans to deploy clean energy technologies and improve resiliency of key facilities. The grants are a second round of funding providing to Massachusetts cities through the Community Clean Energy Resiliency Initiative. The first round allocated $7.4 million as part of a statewide climate change preparedness push, WWLP reported.
To acquire funding from the $40 million Community Clean Energy Resiliency Initiative, municipalities in the state must identify what facilities are vital in providing critical public safety or life sustaining functions. In the event of an emergency when electrical service is lost, these facilities must have alternative energy resources to stay operating and serve the community, WWLP reported.
Types of facilities impacting a city’s resiliency include:
- Emergency services
- Shelters
- Food and fuel supply
- Communications infrastructure
Cities can apply for either technical assistance or direct project implementation aid through the grants for projects such as:
- Clean energy generation
- Energy storage
- Energy management systems
- Islanding technologies
- Microgrids
The energy resiliency program is part of a larger climate preparedness effort by the state to increase resiliency. This plan includes several other preparedness grant programs including:
- Community Resiliency Program: $1 million in municipal grants to eliminate risk associated with costal storms and rising sea levels
- Green Infrastructure for Coastal Resilience pilot project: $1 million in grants to implement green infrastructure to combat threats of climate change
The state is paying for the grant program through Alternative Compliance Payments from electric retail suppliers. When a provider does not have enough Renewable or Alternative Energy Certificates to comply with the Renewable and Alternative Portfolio Standards program, they pay a fee to the state.
Grants Move Programs Forward
Gov1 has reported on a wide array of grant programs designed to accelerate municipal projects in innovation and efficiency.