Wakefield Set To Receive $2.9 Million Grant For Electric Microgrid

Wakefield is set to receive nearly $2.9 million in federal funding to strengthen local energy resiliency, according to a press release from the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company.

The Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department was among six MMWEC member utilities awarded grants through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Preventing Outages and Enhancing the Resilience of the Grid program. The funding is supported by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is being administered by the Mass Clean Energy Center.

Wakefield’s grant totals $2,867,044 and will be used to develop a comprehensive microgrid at Northeast Metro Tech and Wakefield Memorial High School. The project includes the Wakefield Energy Park, which features a 5-megawatt energy storage system. The system will also serve as a peak shaving resource designed to benefit WMGLD customers.

Other municipal utilities receiving funding include Marblehead, Paxton, Holyoke, Templeton and Chester. Their projects range from strengthening transmission lines and upgrading substations to vegetation management and transformer replacements aimed at reducing outages and improving system reliability.

MMWEC officials said the grants highlight the proactive work municipal utilities are doing to modernize infrastructure and prepare for future energy demands. The organization noted that assisting with grant applications is a core service it provides to its members.

MMWEC is a not-for-profit public corporation created in 1975 to support Massachusetts municipal utilities through power supply, financing and other energy services.