$100,000 Microgrid Grant for Ossining

Ossining is among the local municipalities in the lower Hudson Valley awarded about $100,000 to support innovative microgrid projects.

The NY Prize Microgrid Competition is a first-in-the nation $40 million competition to help communities in New York State create microgrids. More than 130 proposals were submitted statewide.

As one of 23 communities in the Mid-Hudson region selected as a Stage 1 winner, Ossining will receive $100,000 to complete a feasibility assessment for the creation of a standalone energy system that can operate independently in the event of a power outage.

Now, the awarded communities will study the feasibility of installing a community microgrid—which is a standalone energy system that can operate independently of the main grid in the event of a power outage. Such systems would integrate renewable power with other advanced energy technologies to create a cleaner, more affordable and more resilient localized energy grid for a limited number of users.

The Village of Ossining’s feasibility assessment will evaluate a project to construct a community microgrid to serve several vital facilities within the Village during an emergency. The proposed microgrid would draw power from combined heat and power, solar, and energy storage, and would provide electricity to such critical facilities as the Birdsall-Fagan Police & Court Facility, Ossining Fire Department headquarters, several water facilities, the Ossining Union Free School District, the Joseph G. Caputo Community Center, Sing Sing Prison, the John Paul Rodrigues Operations Center, and Cablevision Hub and Dispatch Operations.

“Ossining has made smart investments in emergency backup systems for our infrastructure,” said Village of Ossining Mayor Victoria Gearty. “We’ve been a leader in energy efficiency, solar installations, and energy choice aggregation. Pursuing this opportunity for a microgrid is a wise next step toward energy independence and resiliency.”

The severity of past storms such as Hurricanes Irene and Sandy have led the Village to aggressively invest in systems to support electric supply to critical facilities during outages. Ossining has also implemented several efficiency initiatives such as LED street lights, energy efficiency upgrades, the municipal solar buying program, and municipal energy aggregation. The proposed NY Prize project focuses on leveraging these existing initiatives into a community resiliency microgrid that will add higher levels of renewable energy, energy storage, combined heat and power, building load control, and advanced microgrid control strategies.

The project, led by Green Energy Corp, will receive close support from the Village of Ossining, Sustainable Westchester, Hitachi Consulting, GI Energy, and Pace Energy and Climate Center. Collectively, the technical team has conducted more than 40 microgrid feasibility studies around the world.

The 83 communities receiving support for feasibility studies may choose to apply for detailed engineering support in Stage 2 of the competition, which is administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

NY Prize is a three-stage competition administered by NYSERDA, with support from the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, to support community grid planning and development. NY Prize offers support for feasibility studies, audit-grade engineering design and business planning, and project build-out and post-operational monitoring. To learn more about NY Prize and the competition structure, visit www.nyserda.ny.gov/ny-prize.