The Town of Plattsburgh (Town) received a $100,000 award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for completing at least four of the 10 High Impact Actions and qualifying as a Clean Energy Community.

• Benchmarking – Plattsburgh adopted a policy to record and report annual energy consumption at Town Hall, allowing it to be compared against other buildings and to better identify opportunities to cut energy waste.

• Clean Fleets – Installed an EVCS.

• Solarize – Joined the Solarize Adirondack Coast campaign. The town used a $5,000 grant to work with two local companies to bring affordable residential solar to more than 20 households, for a total installation of 164 kilowatts.

• Unified Solar Permit – Adopted the New York State Unified Solar Permit to reduce costs and delays for solar projects in the jurisdiction. The town received a $2,500 incentive for this action.

• Energy Code Enforcement Training – Town of Plattsburgh code-enforcement officers and two other Town employees underwent training in best practices in energy code enforcement through collaborative plans reviews, and joint onsite inspections of local construction projects.

The Town of Plattsburgh is utilizing the $100,000 in grant money from NYSERDA to help fund four projects:

1. Purchase a plug-in hybrid vehicle. The Town has added to its fleet a 2018 Honda Clarity plug-in hybrid and plans to wrap the vehicle with the town logo and NYSERDA Clean Energy Community logo to help promote the mission to the greater public. According to the town supervisor, use of the vehicle will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.6 tons a year and cut gasoline use by 546 gallons a year.

2. The Town’s capital plan includes an upgrade of three aging constant-speed pumps and motors at the Bullis Road Water Plant. Part of the CEC grant will be used to install three 125 HP 460V variable frequency drives on the new motors. This will reduce expected energy use by 20 to 30 percent and will deliver significant energy and cost savings benefits.

3. Installation of LED lighting in its parks and outside of Town Hall. The Town calculated that change will reduce annual energy use by 48,000 kilowatts a year, translating into $7,200 savings on a $15,000 investment – a two-year payback.

4. The last of the funds will go towards a smart growth plan.

“The Town’s use of the NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities award to fund these four energy efficiency and resiliency projects demonstrates our commitment to a clean environment and a strong economy,” said Plattsburgh Senior Planner Trevor Cole. “Development growth is generally good for the economy, but it must be partnered with environmental sustainability and community health to be Smart Growth.”

The Town worked with the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) to apply for the Clean Energy Community designation. Contact ANCA Energy Coordinator Jamie Rogers at jrogers@adirondack.org or by calling 518-891-6200.

NYSERDA has an online dashboard that provides regularly updated information on the number and amount of remaining grants in each region by community size. Grants are available to local governments that earn the Clean Energy Community designation. Block 1 Grants are awarded first, followed by Block 2 Grants. There are a number of grants available in the North Country region.