ATHOL — Gov. Charlie Baker, Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Kathleen Theoharides, and Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Commissioner Patrick Woodcock last week announced the awarding of nearly $8.3 in Green Communities Competitive Grants to 64 municipalities across the Commonwealth to fund clean energy projects. The town of Athol was among those communities, receiving $111,514 dollars for a variety of projects. The grants were awarded on a competitive basis.
A news release from DOER said more than $153 million have been awarded to Green Communities in Designation Grants and Competitive Grants since 2010. Funding for these grants is available through proceeds from carbon allowance auctions under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
“We’re off and running on these projects already,” said Athol Director of Planning and Development Eric Smith.
A total of 10 projects are being funded with the grant monies, Smith told the Athol Daily News.
“Nine of the 10 are kind of energy-efficiency related, spread over three buildings,” he said. “Two of them are Town Hall projects, including $65,000 and change for LED lighting and controls. It’s been a hodgepodge; some systems are on one kind of control, some are on sensor motion, some aren’t. So, I hope this will finally get us up to speed on modern LED lighting and system controls.”
About $3,800 is targeted for door weather-stripping at Town Hall. Another $12,500 will be used for weatherization at the town’s Senior Center, and just over $9,600 for weatherization work at the Uptown Fire Station.
Smith also said the town would be getting “$15,000 for two more electric vehicle charging stations, which are like the ones we have at the environmental center. It’ll actually be a total of four units because there’s two in each unit. Those are targeted to go across the street (from Town Hall) in the parking lot by School Street and South Street, across from the Y.”
Another $5,000 will be used to pay the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission to assist Smith with completing the documentation necessary to ensure compliance with terms of the grant.
Asked if the town was putting together an application for the next round of Green Communities grants, Smith said not at this time.
“Only because we can’t apply for more funding until these projects are completely done, they’ve been inspected by the state and signed off on, and I have to do a final report. I know we’re obviously looking to have more projects done.
“We actually applied to have some windows replaced in the Town Hall, in the back of the building, and it wasn’t found to be an economically viable project — there wasn’t going to be a good rate of return on that. Somebody at the state told me they’re probably not even going to award any more window projects, which is interesting because a lot of the windows in the front of the building and the side of Town Hall were done early on under the Green Communities program. But now, there are a lot more communities vying for the funds.”
Smith said the town may look at other funding sources to pay for work to heating and cooling systems at town-owned buildings.
“Ongoing collaboration with public sector leaders at the state and local level significantly contributes to our Administration’s goal of a cleaner, more reliable, and equitable energy future,” said Baker in an April 13 announcement. “The innovative and cost-effective projects receiving grants will increase energy efficiency and clean energy use in municipal buildings and vehicles across the commonwealth, significantly helping our state achieve its long-term emissions reduction requirements.”
Two-hundred eighty Massachusetts cities and towns have, over the course of the program, earned the Green Communities designation. That accounts for 87% of the commonwealth’s population. The competitive grants are awarded to existing Green Communities that have successfully invested their initial designation grants and previous competitive grant awards.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.