Capital District Regional Planning Commission CEC/CSC

The Capital District Regional Planning Commission’s (CDRPC) Sustainability Team provides technical support to municipal governments in the 8-County Capital Region (Warren, Washington, Columbia, Greene, Schenectady, Saratoga, Albany, and Rensselaer Counties) to implement NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities Program. This also encompasses the interagency Climate Smart Communities Program. At the beginning of the year NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) launched the CEC Leadership Round which provides new opportunities to complete clean energy actions and earn match-free grants. CDRPC’s Clean Energy Communities Coordinators help local governments implement clean energy actions, save energy costs, create jobs, and improve the environment. Under the first phase of the program, with the technical assistance provided by CDRPC, 41 communities in the Capital Region became Designated Clean Energy Communities and were awarded clean energy project grants.

The Clean Energy Communities Leadership Round offers both previous program participants as well as new communities the opportunity to receive free technical support to complete clean energy actions in order to access an additional round of competitive grant funding. CDRPC coordinators assist local governments in determining which of the high-impact actions to implement to earn points. NYSERDA also provides helpful toolkits for each high-impact action. Once a community earns a certain number of points, they become eligible for larger grant amounts. Communities can also earn grant funds through action grants. A municipality does not need to be a designated community to access action grant funding. Completion of at least four high-impact actions open eligibility for communities to apply for grants to fund additional clean energy projects and earn the Clean Energy Communities designation.

MEET OUR TEAM:

Todd Fabozzi, Director of Sustainability

Tara Donadio, CEC Coordinator

Jill Henck, CEC Coordinator

Haley Balcanoff, Sustainability Intern

If you’d like to chat about opportunities within these programs please join us on Zoom or contact Jill Henck at Jill.Henck@cdrpc.org.

Some other helpful resources to help communities get started:

Clean Energy Communities Leadership Round Guidance Document
Capital Region CEC Leadership Round Kickoff Webinar
If you don’t live in the Capital Region but would like your municipality to participate in the CEC Leadership Round you can find your region’s coordinator here.

To receive updates to the program, as well as informational webinars, please sign up for CDRPC’s Clean Energy mailing list here: CDRPC Mailing List.