Commercial, Sourcing Renewables  -  January 20, 2017

New York makes 'clean energy community' designation

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, known as NYSERDA, on Jan. 18 named New Castle, New York, is the first small community in the state and first community in Westchester County to be designated a "Clean Energy Community," for its leadership in reducing energy use, cutting costs and driving clean energy in its communities.

Among the actions that earned New Castle the designation was the implementation of a community choice aggregation program that allows businesses and residents to pool their demand for energy and take part in a bulk purchases of electricity from clean energy sources. The community also established a program for long-term, affordable financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects at commercial buildings and not-for-profits.

The designation allows the community to apply for up to $10,000 in funding toward additional clean energy projects. New York's $16 million Clean Energy Communities initiative, launched in late 2016 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is intended to support local government leaders in implementing energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable development projects in their communities that will help the state reach its goal of generating 50% of its electricity from renewable energy resources by 2030. 

New Castle also approved an energy benchmarking policy to track and report energy use in the town municipal buildings and adopted the New York State Unified Solar Permit to streamline the approvals process for local solar projects.

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