Regional planning agencies covering Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties will benefit from $221,700 in state funds to support clean energy initiatives in their communities.
The Franklin Regional Council of Governments and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission will receive Regional Energy Planning Assistance (REPA) grants to help provide essential technical assistance, the state Department of Energy Resources announced this week. FRCOG, a regional service organization serving Franklin County’s 26 municipalities, has been awarded $81,000 and the PVPC is getting $140,700 to help 13 Hampshire County communities and 13 Hampden County ones.
“Through this funding, the FRCOG will continue to provide Green Communities technical assistance to the 15 Franklin County towns included in the application,” a statement from FRCOG Communications Manager Mark Maloni reads. “FRCOG will assist existing Green Communities with grant applications, updating municipal energy use in the Massachusetts Energy Insight tool (which helps communities track their municipal energy use), and completing Green Communities annual reports, as well as adding regional schools to three communities’ Energy Reduction Plans.
FRCOG has been providing these services to Franklin County towns for the past nine years using REPA grants as well District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA) funding.
According to Maloni, FRCOG will also engage in regional clean energy planning and project support by continuing to run meetings of the Franklin County Coalition of Energy Committees. FRCOG will again have a dedicated staff member to research and develop content for meetings, and arrange speakers on relevant programs. Anticipated topics include, but are not limited to, working with neighboring towns to advance projects at regional schools, switching from fossil fuels to heat pumps, project management, regional grant programs, and running community education and outreach campaigns.
“We are very excited to receive this funding to continue the Green Communities work in our towns. The REPA funds allow us to assist our communities in working to reach their energy efficiency goals,” Ted Harvey, FRCOG’s senior economic development planner, said in a statement. “We are already hard at work on the Green Communities reporting and the Coalition of Energy Committee meetings will be starting up again this month.”
The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission will also put its money toward the Green Communities initiative, as well as organizing and facilitating quarterly regional meetings to focus on clean energy topics identified as community priorities. Funding will also support the implementation of a regional heat pump coaching pilot program that would be available to residents in communities that choose to participate.
PVPC will partner with HeatSmart Alliance, a volunteer group promoting the adoption of energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, to lead the heat pump coaching program, and MassEnergize, which works with community organizers and local leaders to scale household and community-level climate actions, to host the coaching platform website and provide program coordination services.
“We are grateful to DOER for this funding, and we’re excited to work with the cities and towns in our region to implement energy efficiency and clean energy measures, lower costs and reduce pollution,” said Mimi Kaplan, a senior land use and environmental planner with PVPC.
The $221,700 awarded locally is part of $911,000 in grants the Healey-Driscoll administration awarded to 11 regional planning agencies that will in turn be tasked with providing technical assistance to 143 cities and towns that want to plan and implement clean energy projects. This funding is designed to help communities achieve their designation as Green Communities or help existing Green Communities with the management and expansion of their clean energy efforts.
“When we invest in local clean energy projects, we help our communities lower energy bills and reduce pollution,” Rebecca Tepper, secretary of the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said in a statement. “This program gives cities and towns the tools they need to plan and act. That means cleaner air, lower costs and stronger neighborhoods across Massachusetts.”