A project to build a microgrid powered by renewable energy at a Massachusetts school complex gets a $42 million boost from the US Department of Energy. The project is one of 20 selected by agency officials to receive a total of $371 million from its transmission. Subsidy program for location and economic development.
The program is designed to support the permitting of high-voltage interstate transmission line projects, as well as local infrastructure projects in communities along new or upgraded lines.
Barnstable, Massachusetts, a town of less than 50,000 located on Cape Cod between the Atlantic Ocean and Cape Cod Bay, is the planned site to connect to the local grid from the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project 1. Its connection cable will reach the ground at Covell beach and connect to the grid at a 115 kV switching station in the city.
The utility company Eversource recently finished work on a transmission line to distribute the power. Developer Avangrid has also proposed Barnstable as the location for power from its New England Wind 1 offshore wind project recently approved to come ashore at nearby Craigville Beach.
The city and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources plan to use the federal grant to build a microgrid at Barnstable’s middle school and high school complex. While planning is still ongoing, options being considered include a combination of solar canopies, rooftop solar, HVAC electrification, fleet charging and battery storage infrastructure.
Officials say the microgrid would help lower energy costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from boilers and gas heating, improve indoor air quality and increase resilience by expanding shelter space from ’emergency and allow the charging of electric vehicles during emergencies. Schools also plan to use the microgrid as a teaching tool.
Massachusetts officials say the project is an example of how the transition to clean energy can bring different benefits to communities.
“We’re investing in clean energy for the sake of our children, and it’s exciting that training and workforce development opportunities are being offered to Barnstable High students,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.
Transmission and economic development
Grants awarded through the program range from less than $1 million to $50 million. Four of the grants, awarded to Alamosa County, Colorado, the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission and the Wisconsin Public Utilities Commission, will provide these agencies with resources to expedite siting and permitting of transmission line projects.
The rest of the subsidies focus on the economic development of the communities that host transmission line projects. The largest, valued at $50 million each, went to Guymon Public Schools in Oklahoma for the construction of a high school and workforce development center and to the Economic Development Authority of New Jersey to fund projects that were to be selected by residents of communities near offshore wind development. build trails along transmission rights-of-way and provide pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship training with the Local 400 electrical workers union.
“Today, every pocket of the country is experiencing the debilitating impact of extreme weather, and there is no doubt that we must expand our transmission network to get cleaner, more resilient energy to more people, in more places,” he said. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. a statement
Funding for the grant program comes from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The law made $760 million available for the program, and department officials say they expect to launch a second funding opportunity this fall.
