NJBPU opens application window for Community Energy Plan grants applications
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJPBU) announced this month that the application window for the Community Energy Plan Grant (CEPG) Program is open through February.
NJPBU also announced that the first year of the new Community Energy Plan Implementation (CEPI) Program is open. CEPG and CEPI offer local communities nearly $8 million to create and implement community energy plans to move toward Gov. Phil Murphy’s clean energy and emission reductions goals. The funds, $4.5 million for the CEPG program and $3.4 million for the CEPI program, come from New jersey’s Clean Energy Program and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program.
“We are excited for year three of our CEPG Program and to kick off the first year of CEPI,” NJBPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy said. “Directing funds to the local level, particularly to overburdened municipalities, will allow the projects that are most effective for those communities to move forward as we battle the effects of climate change statewide.”
While only three local governments received funding in CEPG’s first year, 2019, the program was redesigned to expand funding. In year two, the 46 grants were awarded with more than half going to overburdened municipalities. The new CEPI program was designed to complement the CEPG program by providing funds to implement projects within community energy plans. Both programs are administered by NJPBU’s Office of Clean Energy Equity and focuses on helping overburdened municipalities. While all towns are eligible for $10,000, overburdened ones are eligible for $25,000.
Applications for the grants are due by Feb. 23, 2024.
