NYSERDA Awards White Plains With Clean Energy Designation
White Plains has been designated a Clean Energy Community by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), recognizing the city as a leader in reducing energy use, cutting costs and driving clean energy locally.
Announced by Gov. Cuomo in August, the $16 million Clean Energy Communities initiative supports local governments to implement energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable development projects in their communities. The governor’s goal is to reach a Clean Energy Standard of 50 percent of the state’s electricity coming from renewable energy resources by 2030.
White Plains received the designation for completing four of 10 high-impact clean energy actions identified by NYSERDA. In addition, the designation gives the city an opportunity to apply for up to $250,000 toward additional clean energy projects, with no local cost share.
There were only two awards given out in the Mid-Hudson Region for large municipalities at the $250,000 level: Ulster County and the City of White Plains.
To earn the Clean Energy Community designation, the City of White Plains completed the following high-impact clean energy actions.
Energy Code Enforcement Training. The Energy Code is a minimum building standard for energy efficiency, applicable to new construction and renovation of commercial and residential buildings in New York State. Since buildings represent roughly 60% of New York’s total energy consumption, there is a significant opportunity for energy savings through improved Energy Code compliance. Over the past six months all of White Plains’ Code Enforcement Officers that perform building plan review as well as Code Enforcement Officers that perform field inspections had in-office and on-site peer review sessions with a NYSERDA energy consultant. These sessions focused on identifying atypical design and installation practices that require special attention when performing energy code compliance plan review and field inspections.
Unified Solar Permit. The Unified Solar Permit is a standardized permit application designed to streamline the approval process for installing solar power systems in the community. White Plains implemented the Unified Solar Permit in January 2014, and has issued 180 solar power system installation permits since implementation of the Unified Solar Permit. There are 237 systems currently in place.
Clean Fleets. Clean fleets describes a local government’s investment in alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure while increasing opportunities for constituents to access electric vehicle charging stations.
White Plains currently offers 20 publicly accessible electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, the most in Westchester County. The EV charging stations are located in parking structures and lots throughout the City. Twenty percent of the White Plains city fleet, approximately 65 vehicles, currently utilizes alternate fuels. The City has five electric cars and one on order.
Energize NY Finance. Energize NY Finance, also known as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing, allows eligible local governments to enable commercially owned buildings to secure funds to tackle significant energy upgrades and renewable energy projects. The City of White Plains is a municipal member of the Energy Improvement Corporation (EIC), through which this financing is available.
In addition, White Plains is in the process of replacing all of its streetlights with energy efficient LED fixtures.
White Plains is a member of the Community Choice Aggregation program, also known as Westchester Power. This is a community-based energy-purchasing program whose mission is to give Westchester County consumers viable energy choices with stable future prices, and more access to clean power. White Plains has already implemented a number of energy efficiency projects in its municipal buildings and facilities by replacing outdated equipment with new smart and efficient technology.
White Plains will submit an application to NYSERDA for the $250,000 in funding within the next few months. It is anticipated that the City will use the funds to fund three projects.
White Plains Microgrid. The City of White Plains and Hitachi Microgrids completed Stage 1 of the NY Prize Feasibility Assessment for the White Plains Community Microgrid, funded by NYSERDA. The NY Prize feasibility assessment indicates that the White Plains Community Microgrid is both technically and economically viable. Clean Energy Communities funds will be used to support the City in completing the next steps of the project, which include a detailed design phase.
LED Lighting for City Parks. Replacement of 400 lights in all city parks.
LED Lighting in City Parking Garages. Replacement of lighting in each of the city garages is desired. Resources from this award will be used to offset some of the costs and help move the project forward.
As a grant recipient the City will be required to include public education about each of the initiatives as it moves forward.
