Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor) today announced that East Hampton Town, Southampton Town, and a Long Island Community Microgrid Project in East Hampton have been awarded approximately $100,000 each to support innovative microgrid projects. These 3 projects were among 14 awarded on Long Island, and 83 state-wide, under Stage 1 of the NY Prize microgrid competition to support a new generation of community-based power.

The awarded entities will study the feasibility of installing a community microgrid—a standalone energy system that can operate independently of the main grid in the event of a power outage and provide additional power on high demand days. Such systems would integrate renewable power with other advanced energy technologies to create a cleaner, more affordable and more resilient localized energy grid for a limited number of users.

Over the next six to eight months, winners will assess the technical, operational and financial feasibility of their proposed community microgrid. These studies will uncover the most favorable technical configurations, as well as immediate opportunities for energy efficiency and distributed energy installations. Once the studies are completed, communities can compete for further support from NY Prize or pursue the distributed energy resource opportunities uncovered in their feasibility study.

Additional details on the awarded project are available at:

http://www.nyserda.ny.gov/All-Programs/Programs/NY-Prize/Opportunity-Zones-Map.aspx