PARK RIDGE—The Borough Council on April 23 approved its first-ever Community Energy Plan, which will allow the borough to apply for state grants to increase energy efficiency.
Vote was 5-0, with Bruce Goldsmith absent.
The board approved a November 2023 Colliers Engineering & Design Community Energy Plan report to bring the borough into partnership with the New Jersey Energy Master Plan goal of achieving 100% clean energy in the state by 2050.
The plan targets community needs and takes advantage of existing opportunities looking five years in the future.
Priorities include:
- Adopting supportive zoning and regulations for electric vehicle infrastructure.
- Improving municipal fleet efficiency.
- Accelerating deployment of renewable energy and distributed energy resources.
- Installing public EV charging infrastructure.
- Adopting supportive zoning and permitting for solar.
- Installing on-site municipal renewable generation.
- Hosting community solar on municipal property.
- Maximizing energy efficiency and conservation and reducing peak demand.
- Conducting residential energy efficiency outreach campaigns.
- Reducing energy consumption and emissions from the building sector.
- Upgrading energy efficiency for municipal facilities.
- Adopting energy storage policies.
- Constructing new municipal buildings as model green buildings.
The resolution notes the new Community Energy Plan is consistent with the Borough Master Plan Reexamination Report and amendments, wherein sustainable development and resilience is recommended. The resolution adds that the plan’s adoption “demonstrates the borough’s commitment to a sustainable future.”
According to the state board of public utilities, community energy planning is the process by which communities collaboratively select and strategically implement emissions-reducing initiatives that fulfill the state Energy Master Plan goals. This process includes assembling a planning team of local municipal staff, elected officials, relevant municipal board and commission members, and community volunteers. This planning team assesses the municipality’s needs and helps find the opportunities for energy resiliency, renewable energy, and energy efficiency.
The state utilities board established an Energy Master Plan grant program in 2019 to support municipalities in developing climate action plans at the local level based on their assessment of which Energy Master Plan strategies are most applicable in their respective communities.
The Community Energy Plan Grant Program was redesigned for program Year 2 by the Office of Clean Energy Equity to prioritize low- and moderate-income and overburdened communities by removing barriers to participation and providing more financial and technical support to those communities that are most in need of these grants.
Program Year 3 was approved on Nov. 17, 2023, with some changes.
Only Fairview, Garfield and Teterboro in Bergen County are eligible with an MRI (Municipal Revitalization Index) score of 40 or higher. A list of MRI-eligible towns can be found at njcleanenergy.com/commercial-industrial/programs/community-energy-plans.
The state BPU notes, “All municipalities are eligible to receive a $10,000 grant. Municipalities identified as being Overburdened Municipalities (OBMs) are eligible to receive a $25,000 grant.”
All grant applications must be submitted to community.energy@bpu.nj.gov by 5 p.m. on May 24. For answers to questions on this program, write community.energy@bpu.nj.gov.