A project to build a microgrid powered by renewable energy at a school complex in Massachusetts is getting a $42-million boost from the U.S. Energy Dept. The project is one of 20 selected by the agency officials to receive a total of $371 million from its Transmission Siting and Economic Development Grant Program.
The program is designed to support permitting of high-voltage interstate transmission line projects, as well as local infrastructure projects in communities along new or upgraded lines.
Barnstable, Mass., a town of fewer than 50,000 people located on Cape Cod between the Atlantic Ocean and Cape Cod Bay, is the planned site for power to connect to the local grid from the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind energy project. Its connecting cable will come ashore at Covell’s Beach and connect to the grid at a 115-kV switching station in town.
Utility company Eversource recently completed work on a transmission line to distribute the power. Developer Avangrid also has proposed Barnstable as the location for power from its recently approved New England Wind 1 offshore wind project to come ashore at nearby Craigville Beach.
The town and the Massachusetts Dept. of Energy Resources plan to use the federal grant to build a microgrid at the Barnstable High School and Intermediate School complex. While planning is still underway, options being considered include a mix of solar canopies, rooftop solar, HVAC electrification, fleet charging and battery storage infrastructure.
Officials say the microgrid would help cut energy costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from boilers and gas heating, improve indoor air quality, and boost resilience by expanding emergency shelter space and enabling electric vehicle charging during emergencies. The 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 is exciting that workforce development and training opportunities be offered for 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, Colo., the Illinois Commerce Commission, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and Public Service Commission of Wisconsin—would provide those agencies with resources to expedite siting and permitting for transmission line projects.
Remaining grants are focused on economic development in communities hosting transmission line projects. The largest ones—worth $50 million each—went to Guymon Public Schools in Oklahoma for construction of a junior high school and workforce development center and to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to fund projects to be selected by residents of communities near offshore wind development to build trails along transmission rights-of-way and to provide pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship training with the electrical workers' union Local 400.
“Today, every pocket of the country is experiencing the grueling impact of extreme weather and there’s no doubt that we must expand our transmission grid to get more clean, resilient power to more people, in more places,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a statement.
Funding for the grant program comes from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The act set $760 million available for the program, and department officials say they expect to release a second funding opportunity this fall.
