$100,000 Microgrid Grant for Somers

Six local municipalities from the Hudson Valley’s 40th Senate District have been awarded about $100,000 each to support innovative microgrid projects.

The Village of Sleepy Hollow, Town of Mount Kisco, Village of Croton-on-Hudson, Town of Cortlandt, the Town of Somers and the Westchester County Valhalla Campus are among 83 communities across the state getting awards as part of the NY Prize microgrid competition to support a new generation of community-based power.

“The Town of Somers is fortunate to receive this award sponsored by NYSERDA and we are looking forward to working with our partners and community groups to make this a success,” Somers Supervisor Rick Morrissey said in a prepared statement. “ After Hurricane Sandy it became clear that we needed to upgrade our energy infrastructure and this grant is the first step toward making that objective a reality.”

More than 130 proposals were submitted statewide.

“The Hudson Valley continues to prove itself as an incubator for new technologies,” State Senator Terrence Murphy said. “It is no secret that our state continues to face an energy crisis and I applaud these communities for taking a proactive step toward energy independence. As a town councilman I supported similar projects in Yorktown and will continue to advocate for the use of clean green energy that will reduce our carbon footprint and ease the pressure on our aging energy infrastructure.”

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.

“This microgrid grant is a great first step to exploring self-sustaining energy resources and technology in our community,” Westchester County Legislator Michael Smith said.

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.

Here are summaries of each local project:

Town of Cortlandt: Hurricanes Sandy and Irene and Tropical Storm Lee caused costly damages to Cortlandt, including loss of power to critical services, local businesses, and residents—some for a period of 10 days. The proposed microgrid would include biomass, natural gas, and diesel, and would provide power to the town hall, hospital, fire department, water filtration plant, waste-to-energy plant, gas stations, grocery stores, assisted living centers, and a school. Partners: Town of Cortlandt, Con Edison, Booz Allen Hamilton, Power Analytics, Siemens USA, Pace Energy and Climate Center, and Sustainable Westchester.

Village of Croton-on-Hudson: Croton’s location downstate and directly on the banks of both the Hudson and Croton Rivers makes it particularly vulnerable to storm damage. Hurricane Sandy left much of Croton without power for nearly two weeks. Croton will follow the model of a “nested microgrid” in which there will be two main geographical areas in the system, each fed by its own portfolio of distributed generation (combined heat and power, solar, and energy storage), and each capable of staying powered in island mode during a grid outage. However, when the grid is powered, the two areas will be connected, and can be managed as a single microgrid system with generation resources optimized to meet loads across the entire system. The proposed microgrid would provide power to a municipal building, library, three fire stations, three schools and district office, medical clinic, grocery/pharmacy, and gas station. Partners: Village of Croton-on Hudson, Sustainable Westchester, Pace Energy and Climate Center, Green Energy Corp., Hitachi Consulting, GI Energy, and Con Edison.

Village of Mt. Kisco: This community has suffered numerous power outages from Hurricanes Floyd, Irene, and Sandy, plus heat waves, nor’easters, and snowstorms. The proposed microgrid would use a mix of power generation sources including solar, natural gas, and diesel, and would provide power to the village office, library, police station, fire departments, volunteer ambulance corps, medical facilities, pumping stations, service stations, schools, local industries and businesses, and shelters. Partners: Village of Mount Kisco, Booz Allen Hamilton, Sustainable Westchester, Pace Energy and Climate Center, Power Analytics, Siemens USA, and Con Edison.

Village of Sleepy Hollow: The village, which lacks resiliency in the event of severe weather or other emergency, has proposed a microgrid using a combination of combined heat and power, wind, solar, tidal power, and other smart technologies. Power from the proposed microgrid would be provided to village hall, police station, fire houses, water and sewer filtration/pump stations, PK-12 schools, and affordable housing. Partners: Village of Sleepy Hollow, Village of Briarcliff Manor, North Tarrytown Housing Authority, Public Schools of the Tarrytowns, New York Power Authority, Con Edison, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Willdan Energy Solutions.

Town of Somers: This community has experienced severe storms in recent years, with power outages from Hurricanes Irene and Sandy and Tropical Storm Lee lasting up to 11 days. Partial day outages are experienced throughout the year from downed power poles and line failures. The proposed microgrid would include solar and diesel. Power would be provided to a sewage plant, activity center (designated town emergency shelter), town office, gas stations, nursing home, library, schools, fire station, state trooper station, and commercial complexes. Partners: Town of Somers, NYSEG, Sustainable Westchester, Pace Energy and Climate Center, Booz Allen Hamilton, Power Analytics, and Siemens USA.

Westchester County’s Valhalla Campus: The Westchester Community College and Westchester County Valhalla Campus are centrally located in one of New York’s most populous counties. The county, with two shorelines—one on the Hudson River and the other on the Long Island Sound—is especially susceptible to floods and power outages during an extreme weather event such as Hurricane Sandy. The County’s First Responder capabilities, in time of crisis, are also critical to New York City because of their strategic geographic location. The proposed microgrid would explore a mix of distributed energy resources such as solar and combined heat and power applications, along with battery storage. Partners: Con Edison, Entecco, Eaton, Kheops, KeyBank, TAG Mechanical, and New York Power Authority.