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Welcome to the Winter 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 Steuben, Chemung, Schuyler, Tioga, Tompkins, Broome, Chenango, and Delaware 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 community as you implement clean energy actions, save energy costs, create jobs, and improve the environment.
The Southern Tier region now has nine 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 adviser. If you're interested in joining the movement towards becoming a Clean Energy Community, or if you have any questions regarding energy usage, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Tara Donadio, Katherine Herleman, and Terry Carroll - CEC Coordinators for the Southern Tier
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Katherine Herleman
CEC Coordinator for Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben Counties
County Cooperative Extension of Schuyler County
Email: kch227@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-535-7161
 We are pleased to introduce Katherine Herleman as the CEC Coordinator for Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben Counties. Katherine works for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schuyler County. Her office is based in Montour Falls, NY.
Katherine originally hails from Sarasota, Florida and recently received her MS in Geological Sciences at Cornell University. Katherine has broad technical expertise in sustainable energy systems and environmental impacts of energy development. She is excited to bring her research background to assist communities in pursuing CEC designation and has already begun to reach out to municipal leaders and is offering analysis and support as these municipalities begin to implement CEC High Impact Items. If you live in Chemung, Schuyler, or Steuben Counties and want to start work on CEC Designation, or just have a question about energy - reach out to Katherine!
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 “We’re trying to save the town money and move in an environmental way” - says Red Lapierre, board member for the Town of Veteran (population 3,313), located north of Elmira. That’s the reason for participating as the town quickly approaches becoming the first designated Clean Energy Community in Chemung County. Led by Red, the town has been slowly plugging away at actions ever since the town was first introduced to the program over a year ago and is now on the cusp of becoming eligible for $50,000 in grant funding.
It started at a board presentation where the program was presented. Following the presentation a benchmarking resolution was passed that allowed the town to better understand how it was using energy. Soon after the benchmarking resolution, the town passed the Unified Solar Permit, allowing any solar installer coming to the town to use the same permit now widely used across New York State for residential solar installations. This action not only streamlined the process for installers, but also improved the process for the Town’s Code Enforcement Officer. With two actions complete, Veteran then turned to code enforcement training for a third high impact action and, after some delays in the program, has completed the training. The community is now looking at installing an EV charging station as its fourth high impact action.
The Town of Veteran is a fantastic example of perseverance and a reminder that even small, rural towns can gain something from participating in the CEC program:
“All of these actions that we’ve taken, and the plans for the grant… definitely not, none of this would have been done in the next five years without this program.”
Now that the town has nearly achieved CEC designation, they are exploring ways they might use the grant funds. Possible ideas include: an Electric Vehicle for their code enforcement officer and tax assessor (utilizing their new charging station!), on-site solar for their town hall, and using the money to help fund a solar farm on town land that would supply the town with solar energy!
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NYSEG Utility Tariff Release for LED Streetlights
On December 1, 2017, NYSEG released a tariff for municipalities outlining how they can request upgrades of their streetlights to more energy efficient LEDs. The only option previously for communities was the “municipal purchase option” which required governments to purchase the lights in order to make the upgrades themselves. This is still an option for any municipality interested, and you should reach out to your coordinator for more information.
With the new “utility-owned option,” NYSEG will continue to own and manage the streetlights as before, but will upgrade the lights to LED. This will reduce municipal energy usage and cost. Municipalities will still pay a monthly luminaire charge per unit, which will also be less than previous costs. The energy savings you can expect to see are around 73% annually, with a cost savings of around 68%.
In order to request an upgrade under the utility-owned option, municipalities must contact their NYSEG Key Account Manager to request the Average Net Book Value (ANBV) of the lights to be paid, as well as an inventory. This ANBV is calculated by looking at the life left of the lights. Once this information is relayed from NYSEG, your CEC Coordinator can assist you with calculating the return on investment of this upgrade, which has typically been about 1-2 years.
If the community decides to move forward, they must determine the wattage of the replacement LEDs. Your CEC Coordinator can assist with this calculation. NYSEG municipalities must convert 100 lights or 20% of their lights, whichever is greater.
Due to potential high demand, NYSEG will only convert 20% of the streetlights to LED in their entire New York region in a year. If interested in this program, municipalities must move quickly because the program will be operated on a first come first serve basis.
If you have another electric utility, you are most likely already able to access this option, but please contact your CEC coordinator with any questions about the process. We are here to help.
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Since our last update in October, three municipalities have become designated Clean Energy Communities: congratulations to the Towns of Windsor (Broome County), Dickinson (Broome County) and Ithaca (Tompkins County)! All three are eligible to apply for $50,000 in grant funding. Project ideas for the funds include improvements to a wastewater treatment facility paired with solar panels, energy efficiency improvements to a town hall, and LED streetlights. We look forward to seeing what projects each of the towns submit in their grant applications. We’ll be updating you in future installations of this newsletter!
Across the Southern Tier,  Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations continue to be possible. New charging stations have been placed in Middletown, Windsor, Dickinson, Ithaca, Caroline and Johnson City. If you’re interested in finding out more about how your municipality can take advantage of State incentives to get a new charging station in your municipality, contact your local CEC Coordinator!
We offer congratulations to the City of Ithaca for becoming New York State’s 17th Climate Smart Community! The City of Ithaca accomplished a number of items to become climate smart, including CEC-designation, ins tallation of EV charging stations, and planning for climate change adaptation and resiliency. They join the Town of Ithaca and Tompkins County as the only certified Climate Smart Communities in the Southern Tier Region. Several additional communities have taken the pledge to become Climate Smart and are currently working towards certification. Please reach out your coordinator if you’re interested in learning more about Climate Smart Community certification, or in funding possibilities through this Department of Environmental Conservation’s program.
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NYSERDA has just released an update on the Clean Energy Communities Program with important information on Code Enforcement Training, additional funding for municipal grants, and grant applications.
Code Enforcement Training Updates:
For small and medium-size communities (0-39,999 population): At least one code official must complete a NYSERDA-approved Clean Energy Communities Energy Code Enforcement Training series including both residential and commercial workshops. These workshop dates have not yet been determined,. However workshopswill be regional. We will alert you as soon as we have information on the first available date and location. Small and medium-size communities that enrolled in the Energy Code Enforcement Training prior to August 8, 2017 have the option of participating in the offering as described above or may complete the requirements as they were originally defined at enrollment, provided the community completes the training by April 1, 2018.
For large-size communities (40,000+ population), the process remains the same as it was previously, i.e., the code officer must complete a one-on-one training, and should sign up for this training by contacting NYSERDA.
Additional Funding for Municipal Grants:
$500,000 in additional funding has been released for designated Clean Energy Communities. Once all Block 1 and 2 awards are claimed in either the Large or Small/Medium categories in a region, a $5,000 grant (“Block 3 grant”) is available to each eligible local government that is designated a Clean Energy Community on a first-come first-serve basis until such funds are exhausted. The Southern Tier still has Block 2 awards available for communities, including 2 large and 7 small/medium community grants.
Grant Application Updates:
There are important changes to grant applications which should be reviewed if you are in the process of applying for grants. To access the full information on the revisions and grant, visit: https://portal.nyserda.ny.gov/CORE_Solicitation_Detail_Page?SolicitationId=a0rt0000000QnlnAAC
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February 28, 10:30am - Keys to Successful Municipal Energy Projects: From Planning to Implementation - click here to register
March 21, 11:30am - Benchmarking with Energy Start Portfolio Manager: The Basics, hosted by Southern Tier Clean Energy Communities Coordinators. click here to register This webinar, hosted by Southern Tier Clean Energy Communities Coordinators and presented by Tara Donadio, will give you an overview of the Portfolio Manager and how to use it.
If you have an event related to energy that you would like others to know about in our Spring CEC Newsletter, please contact your CEC Coordinator.
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