119-24 Attachment - Community Energy Plan Grant Application.pdf

1 New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, 2019 New Jersey Energy Master Plan: Pathway to 2050, https://nj.gov/emp/docs/pdf/2020_NJBPU_EMP.pdf. 2 “Energy Resilience” is defined by the United States Department of Energy as: “the ability of the grid, buildings, and communities to withstand and rapidly recover from power outages and continue operating with electricity, 119-24 Community Energy Plan Grant Application Form Program Year 3 Program Background New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (“Board” or BPU”) has created a Community Energy Plan Grant (“CEPG”) program for municipalities to develop a Community Energy Plan to meet the goals of the state’s Energy Master Plan (“CEPG Program”). New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan: Pathway to 2050 (“EMP”) established that community-level action is necessary to achieve the state’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2050.1 The CEPG Program will help municipalities plan for energy resilience, renewable energy, and efficiency to work toward a better environment for all residents. By using the state’s EMP as a guide, grantees will work to develop sustainable strategies that increase clean energy production, reduce energy use, and cut emissions. This grant will be available to all municipalities, with additional support and funds provided to overburdened municipalities as defined below. The goal of the CEPG Program is to enable municipalities to review a list of suggested initiatives that will help the community identify a set of activities that will set them on a trajectory to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The 12-month CEPG Program process is intended to support a review of potential initiatives and to select those best suited to municipal needs and opportunities. The Community Energy Plan, as defined in the “Program Summary” section below, is expected to be completed and submitted to the BPU within 12 months of the grant award. Program Summary Community Energy Planning is the process by which communities collaboratively select emissions- reducing initiatives that fulfill the EMP’s goals (“Planning Process”). The Planning Process includes assembling a planning team of local municipal staff, elected officials, relevant municipal board and commission members, and community volunteers and/or green team members (“Planning Team”). This Planning Team assesses the municipality’s needs to identify the opportunities for energy resiliency,2