Wayland Patch 12/29/14: State Awards $18.4M to Communities for Energy Resiliency Projects. Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Wayland received $264,627 of the grant money. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council project in Wayland is awarded funding for the implementation of islanding capability and advanced switches at Wayland Middle School. Wayland is seeking to augment a proposed PV carport at the school with switchgear and inverters that would allow solar to decrease the burden on the diesel back-up generator during an event. As the Town’s primary community shelter, Wayland’s Middle School has harbored folks in wheelchairs, people with their pets, senior citizens, and young families with children. As a regional shelter, it has hosted residents from other municipalities, including Weston, Framingham, and Sherborn.
Adding resiliency features will leverage ongoing planning processes facilitated by MAPC to construct municipal solar installations. The proposed resiliency project will harden the clean energy infrastructure for the shelter while establishing an exciting demonstration of islanding/microgrid technology to which advanced battery storage systems can be added at a future date. While the requested amount is higher than the maximum award offered to Wayland, this facility does serve as a shelter for the region and is therefore eligible for a waiver of that maximum.
Wayland Town Crier 12/29/14: Wayland to benefit from state energy grant. State officials today awarded $18.4 million in grants, including for a project in Wayland, to implement clean energy technologies and improve resiliency at critical facilities such as shelters. The planning council received $264,627 for a project to implement “islanding capability and advanced switches at Wayland Middle School.” The project would augment a proposed solar carport at the school to allow solar power to decrease the burden on a diesel back-up generator. The middle school is the town’s primary community shelter and has hosted residents from Wayland and surrounding communities, according to the release.
