Clean Energy Grant in Offing

East Hampton Town is to become the first “small community” on Long Island to be certified as a clean-energy community by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, an agency that provides financial incentives for smart-energy usage to municipalities, homes, businesses, and other entities. 

The certification, for towns with fewer than 40,000 permanent residents, means East Hampton will likely receive a $100,000 grant for clean energy projects.

Typically, the state requires a municipality to meet 4 of 10 criteria to be named a clean energy community, but East Hampton has met 6. Among them are “clean fleet,” which entails installing an electric vehicle charging station and bringing alternative-fuel vehicles into the town fleet; “energy code enforcement training,” in which code enforcement officers are familiarized with energy-related best practices, implementation, and inspections; “benchmarking,” tracking and reporting energy usage in town buildings, and adopting the state’s Unified Solar Permit policy as a local law to “reduce costs and delays for solar projects.”

If the town receives the grant, it will have 90 days to submit a proposal for how the money will be used, followed by six months to actually begin the project and three years to complete it. 

Meeting on Tuesday, town board members suggested using the money for projects such as rooftop solar technology for town buildings or upgrading drafty old windows.