State Awards $18.4M to Communities for Energy Resiliency Projects

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Submitted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

Energy and Environmental Affairs Undersecretary for Energy Mark Sylvia and Department of Energy Resources Commissioner (DOER) Meg Lusardi today awarded $18.4 million in grants to municipalities to implement clean energy technologies and improve resiliency at critical facilities.

Undersecretary Sylvia and Commissioner Lusardi announced the grants in Beverly, where the Metropolitan Area Planning Council will use more than $500,000 to implement a solar PV plus storage system that will allow the facility to island and operate its critical energy loads during an extended grid outage. This is the second round of grants through the Community Clean Energy Resiliency Initiative, the first totaling $7.4 million, which is part of the Patrick Administration’s comprehensive climate change preparedness effort.

“These grants will assist municipalities across the Commonwealth in using innovative clean energy technologies to prevent disruption to critical facilities and services during times of emergency,” said Undersecretary Sylvia.

Through the Resiliency Initiative, $40 million in state funding has been made available to cities and towns that identify facilities in their communities where the loss of electrical service would result in the disruption of a critical public safety or life sustaining function, including emergency services, shelters, food and fuel supply and communications infrastructure. Municipalities can use the funding to implement clean energy technologies to keep their energy systems operable.

Under the program, administered by DOER, cities and towns applied for either technical assistance or direct project implementation. Projects eligible for funding include clean energy generation, energy storage, energy management systems, islanding technologies and microgrids.

“These grants, another example of our partnership with cities and towns, will support local communities during climate change-induced events, by making critical facilities able to continue service using clean energy technology solutions,” said Commissioner Lusardi.

Funding for these project implementation grants, the first round project implementation grants and technical assistance awards previously announced comes from Alternative Compliance Payments (ACP), which are paid by electrical retail suppliers if they have insufficient Renewable or Alternative Energy Certificates to meet their compliance obligations under the Renewable and Alternative Portfolio Standard programs. Communities receiving technical assistance were eligible to apply for project implementation grants in a second solicitation later this year.

In January, Governor Patrick announced a coordinated plan for climate preparedness to increase resiliency across the Commonwealth. In addition to the energy resiliency initiative, the plan includes funding for critical coastal infrastructure and dam repair, including two new municipal grants offered by the Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM). Their Community Resiliency Program offered $1 million in municipal grants to reduce or eliminate risk associated with coastal storms and sea level rise. As natural solutions have often proved to be the best defense against nature, CZM also implemented a $1 million program for Green Infrastructure for Coastal Resilience pilot project.

Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Wayland received $264,627 of the grant money. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council project in Wayland is awarded funding for the implementation of islanding capability and advanced switches at Wayland Middle School. Wayland is seeking to augment a proposed PV carport at the school with switchgear and inverters that would allow solar to decrease the burden on the diesel back-up generator during an event. As the Town’s primary community shelter, Wayland’s Middle School has harbored folks in wheelchairs, people with their pets, senior citizens, and young families with children. As a regional shelter, it has hosted residents from other municipalities, including Weston, Framingham, and Sherborn.

Adding resiliency features will leverage ongoing planning processes facilitated by MAPC to construct municipal solar installations. The proposed resiliency project will harden the clean energy infrastructure for the shelter while establishing an exciting demonstration of islanding/microgrid technology to which advanced battery storage systems can be added at a future date. While the requested amount is higher than the maximum award offered to Wayland, this facility does serve as a shelter for the region and is therefore eligible for a waiver of that maximum.

Since taking office, the Patrick Administration has been committed to mitigating the impacts of climate change by advancing renewable energy and energy efficiency in the Commonwealth. As a result, Massachusetts now has nearly 806 MW of wind and solar installed and has established the most ambitious energy efficiency plans in the nation.

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has named Massachusetts number one for three years running. Last year, Governor Patrick set a new solar goal to install 1,600 megawatts by 2020, after reaching the previous goal of 250 megawatts four years early. The clean energy revolution is yielding economic benefits as well, with 10.5 percent job growth in the last year and 47 percent growth since 2010; nearly 88,000 people are employed in the nearly 6,000 clean tech businesses in Massachusetts.