|
Welcome to the Summer 2019 Edition of our Southern Tier Clean Energy Communities (CEC) quarterly newsletter!
The purpose of this newsletter is to keep municipalities, elected officials, and others in the counties of Broome, Chemung, Chenango, Delaware, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, and Tompkins informed about the great work being performed in the Southern Tier to make our communities more sustainable and energy efficient. As coordinators, our focus is NYSERDA's Clean Energy Communities initiative and other energy-related activities taking place throughout the region. We are available to assist you, your local government, and your community as you implement clean energy actions, save energy costs, create jobs, and improve the environment.
The Southern Tier region now has 35 officially designated Clean Energy Communities! Work continues with many other municipalities seeking designation and advice on energy usage. CEC coordinators are available to function as your municipality's energy advisor. If you have any questions regarding energy usage, or if you're interested in joining the movement towards becoming a Clean Energy Community, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Terry Carroll and Katherine Herleman - CEC Coordinators for the Southern Tier
|
|
NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program continues on through 2019 with a full slate this summer. Our coordinators have been hard at work helping communities issue requests for proposals for solar installations, install EV charging stations, examine HVAC equipment that needs replacing, organizing streetlight LED conversions and giving general advice on all sorts of energy issues!
Across the Southern Tier communities are becoming more aware of energy issues and what their role in a transition to cleaner energy might look like. The City of Ithaca, highlighted below, recently passed their version of a Green New Deal - hoping to marry a move to renewables with jobs and economic development. Other communities are also starting to look at resilience to storms, droughts and heat waves. We assisted several communities in submitting applications for Climate Smart Community grants in the recently closed Consolidated Funding Application cycle.
If you are part of a community that wants to act on energy, or that is thinking about climate resiliency and/or adaptation - please let us know! We’re happy to help and are excited to offer our services to communities that want to move forward with actions that will benefit their residents.
|
|
|
On June 5th, 2019 the Common Council for the City of Ithaca unanimously passed a “Green New Deal” resolution setting goals for the city to become carbon neutral by 2030 with 100% of government operations using renewable electricity by 2025, and city vehicle fleet emissions reduced by half in the same time frame.
|
|
|
It’s an incredibly ambitious goal that marks Ithaca as a standout not only for our region, but for the State and Nation. The mayor, Svante Myrick, first announced plans for a Green New Deal at a Town Hall hosted by the Sunrise Ithaca movement - a collective group of youth pushing
|
|
|
for climate action to be interwoven to equity and economic development. Indeed, the plan itself is heavily based on the concept that any change will require buy-in from all sectors, and support from the community at large.
The City of Ithaca has already demonstrated a commitment to clean energy by becoming a designated Clean Energy Community - accomplishing five actions including: running a successful solarize campaign, passing Energize NY legislation, becoming a bronze-level Climate Smart Community, adopting benchmarking as a policy, and deploying EV infrastructure as part of the Clean Fleets action. The City is also in the process of buying back its streetlights to convert to LEDs.
As the City of Ithaca puts together a plan to achieve its ambitious green new deal goals, we’ll be following closely and sharing lessons that can be applied to the region as a whole. It’s our hope that the leadership demonstrated by Ithaca will translate to opportunities for our municipalities across the state, and especially in the Southern Tier! For more information, visit the City of Ithaca’s green new deal website: http://cityofithaca.org/642/Green-New-Deal.
|
|
|
This quarter’s highlighted action item is the Unified Solar Permit (USP), which streamlines the permitting process for projects smaller than 25 kW (about an average-sized home). We’ll also touch on resources for adopting the Solar Zoning Model Law and the Battery Energy Storage Model Law. At least 336 communities across Western NY are using the USP. Not only is this the easiest CEC high-impact action to-date to complete, your code enforcement officers, fire safety inspectors, residents, and solar installers will all thank you for making residential-scale solar permitting a consistent and easy to process for everyone to follow! Any municipality responsible for code enforcement can use the USP, typically cities, towns, and villages.
|
|
|
How do municipalities implement the USP? First, a local board such as a Town Board or Planning Board should review and pass the Unified Solar Permit Model Resolution, which authorizes the code enforcement officer to generate and use the USP permit template.
|
|
|
|
Next, the code enforcement officer should work with us to format the USP template and ensure it meets local ordinances on permitting fees and accurate contact information. Finally, the municipality should review the formatted USP and post it online for easy access. If you are looking for a local example of an implemented permit, please ask us for one - there are plenty across each county in the Southern Tier.
Solar Zoning and the NYSERDA Model Solar Energy Local Law
Another benefit of adopting the Unified Solar Permit is that the process teaches boards and code enforcement officers about some basic aspects of solar energy systems which can assist municipalities with understanding the NYSERDA Model Solar Energy Local Law, a useful tool which can assist you with appropriate solar zoning and siting practices. Since siting for solar projects smaller than 25 MW occurs at the local level, the Model Solar Energy Local Law serves as a resource to inform local officials on the processes of installing,
operating, maintaining and decommissioning solar energy systems in their respective jurisdictions.
Providing this as a resource for local governments, officials can then use this Model Law to assist them in examining their own local laws, regulations, and policies to adopt their own rules and regulations that make sense for their respective community with regards to solar development.
If you weren’t able to attend an online webinar or in-person workshop last year, don’t worry, NYSERDA is still here to help municipalities with this process. For more information, contact Kendra Kostek on the NYSERDA Clean Energy Siting Team at Kendra.Kostek@nyserda.ny.gov.
.
|
|
|
We’d like to congratulate several other municipalities which recently attained Clean Energy Communities designation:
- Village of Burdett (Schuyler County)
- Town of Catlin (Chemung County)
- Town of Elmira (Chemung County)
- Village of Trumansburg (Tompkins County)
- Town of Hancock ( Delaware County)
- Broome County
|
|
|
|
Burdett recently completed the construction of a three-million-dollar, energy-efficient building which houses both its offices and fire hall as well as the installation of the second municipal-owned EV charger in Schuyler County.Catlin is currently undertaking a Solarize campaign and planning energy efficiency updates to its Town Barn. The Town of Elmira recently installed an electric vehicle charger and replaced all interior lightbulbs with LED’s. The Village of Trumansburg recently converted to air-source heat pumps and switched the lights in their offices to LEDs. The Town of Hancock similarly converted their town garage lights to LEDs and have participated in a regional community solar campaign.
|
|
Broome County passed EnergizeNY (PACE) legislation, adopted a benchmarking resolution, participated in Solarize campaigns and last year installed a huge 5.2MW DC array expected to produce over 6 million kilowatt hours, save the County $140,000 per year and reduce their emissions from buildings over 1,000 sq. ft. by over 50%! These actions combined to help Broome County achieve designation and take home our last Block 2 grant for large communities of $150,000.
|
|
|
Congratulations to all of our designated communities - now up to 35!
As we mentioned in Coordinator’s Corner, just because the grant money is gone, that doesn't mean we’re slowing down! We hope to see many more communities become designated and hope to continue working with already designated communities to achieve even more actions!
|
|
|
Congratulations to Tioga and Tompkins Counties Soil and Water Districts for being awarded grants via the Climate Resilient Farming Grant Program.
-
Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District was awarded $244,130 to work with one farm to install riparian forest buffers and plant trees for carbon sequestration. Streambank protection, floodplain reconnection, berm removal, and wetland enhancements will help mitigate flood effects, allowing the farm to improve resilience and adapt to climate change.
- Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District was awarded $60,000 to assist one farm with the installation of grassed waterways and retention ponds to reduce runoff from the farm into roadside ditches. This will help the farm adapt to weather extremes and allow water storage for livestock and the irrigation of perennials, while protecting pastures and trees from excess water flow.
Emily Dean, NYSERDA Director of Market Development, recently gave an excellent summary on the impact of the passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) on the electricity grid, green job creation, and environmental justice actions. CLCPA mandates that 70% of the State’s electricity be generated by renewable sources by 2030, increasing to 100% clean electricity by 2040, the CLCPA charts New York’s path to a carbon neutral economy.
|
|
- September 21st 9:00am - 4:30pm Climate Solutions Summit, 1 Hawk Drive, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY 12561
The Climate Solutions Summit will feature powerful keynotes, panels, case studies and workshops on renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, movement building, climate policy, environmental justice and more! Please register by Sunday, September 15! Click here to REGISTER
- October 21st 4:00 to 7:30 PM: NYSERDA Battery Energy Storage Workshop, CCE Broome Auditorium 840 Upper Front St #2, Binghamton, NY 13905
November 14th 4:00 to 8:00 PM: NYSERDA Battery Energy Storage Workshop, Community Arts of Elmira located at 413 Lake St, Elmira, NY 14901
The Battery Energy Storage System Guidebook contains information, tools, and step-by-step instructions to support local governments managing battery energy storage system development in their communities. The Guidebook provides local officials in-depth details about the permitting and inspection process to ensure efficiency, transparency, and safety in their communities.
The audience will be provided with a comprehensive review of the permitting and inspection processes for battery energy storage systems in New York State, including an overview of the NYSERDA Model Battery Energy Storage Permit.
The Elmira Battery Storage event will also cover best practices for field inspections based on the National Electric Code. The workshop will cover all of the topics from the Guidebook plus include 2 in-service hours (accredited by NYS DOS BSC) for code enforcement officers. NOTE: The Broome County Event will not include the code enforcement section.
RSVP's via NYSERDA and additional information will be sent in a forthcoming e-mail.
-
October 25th: A tour hosted by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association in Canandaigua will feature an ambitious new development: a first-of-its-kind affordable housing project funded through the New York Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Unified Funding Round in Upstate New York to utilize the Passive House (PHIUS) program. Hosting company Sustainable Comfort, Inc. will be leading this event and discussing the design and construction process and the unique features implemented to balance efficiency and affordability.
- December 9th: A tour hosted by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association in Cold Spring will feature a 3,000 sqft home which meets net-zero energy standards and uses ethical construction materials sourcing. The Onsite PV array estimated to offset 100% of on-site energy demand, including all-electric heating cooling, ventilation and plug loads.
|
|
|
|
|
