Illinois EPA Grants Support Local Governments in Energy Upgrades and Cost Savings
Local and county governments in Illinois seeking bargain pathways upgrade their energy efficiency in public buildings and reduce long-term emissions and rate costs are eligible for $766,600 in grants newly announced by the state’s Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA).
The Illinois EPA Office of Energy created the Public Building Energy Efficiency Grant program to help municipalities and counties invest in upgrades to lower energy consumption at facilities performing local government services.
“This program provides financial resources as well as technical support through Illinois EPA’s Office of Energy,” said IEPA Director James Jennings in a statement. “This funding will improve energy efficiency and provide cost savings to public buildings in Illinois.”
Energy efficiency upgrades eligible for the grants include building insulation, window replacement, lighting, smart thermostats, sensors, heating and cooling system retrofits and high efficiency appliances. Those applicants can include requests to fund transfer switches which enable the buildings to transition from utility power to supplement generators—similar to microgrids--during an emergency.
“A generator transfer switch is required by the National Electrical Code (NEC) to connect a backup generator to a building’s electrical system,” reads the IEPA’s grant website. “The transfer switch prevents “backfeed” of power into utility lines, which can be deadly for utility workers and damage equipment.”
Grants will be capped at $200,000 per grantee. Applications will be accepted through September 30.
Energy efficiency is often called the “first fuel” of both decarbonization and cost reduction resources. Illinois’ electricity rates for commercial customers average close to 15.36 cents per kWh, three cents above the rate one year earlier, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
Various calculations indicate that energy efficiency investments of $200,000 could save $30,000 a year in annual reduced utility bills, creating a payback period between five to seven years, according to Illinois Commercial Energy’s website and other sources.
About the Author
EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is head of content for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.
Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
He can be reached at [email protected].
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.