Local Communities Awarded $100,000 For Microgrid Projects

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor) announced on Wednesday that three local communities projects have been awarded $100,000 each to support innovative microgrid projects.

East Hampton Town, Southampton Town and a Long Island Community Microgrid Project in East Hampton were among 14 awarded on Long Island, and 83 state-wide, under Stage 1 of the NY Prize microgrid competition to support a new generation of community-based power.

The Towns and Microgrid will study the possibility of installing a community microgrid, a standalone energy system that can operate independently of the main grid in the event of a power outage and provide additional power on
high demand days.

The systems would use renewable power along with other advanced energy technologies to create a cleaner, more affordable and more resilient localized energy grid for a limited number of users.

Over the next six to eight months, the winners will assess the technical, operational and financial feasibility of their proposed community microgrid.

Once the studies are completed, the communities can compete for further support from NY Prize or pursue the distributed energy resource opportunities uncovered in their feasibility study.