WG&E presents $22K incentive for city’s green renovations

Dec. 29, 2021 | Amy Porter
amyporter@thewestfieldnews.com

Westfield Director of Facilities Bryan Forrette and Mayor Donald F. Humason Jr. receive an incentive check from Westfield Gas & Electric General Manager Thomas Flaherty Sr.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter

WESTFIELD – On Dec. 23, Thomas Flaherty, general manager of Westfield Gas & Electric, presented a check for $22,748 to Mayor Donald F. Humason Jr. and Director of Facilities Bryan Forrette for the energy-saving measures taken by the city during the most recent Green Communities grant cycle.

The Green Communities Division of the state Department of Energy Resources provides grants, technical assistance, and local support from regional coordinators to help municipalities reduce energy use and costs by implementing clean energy projects in municipal buildings, facilities, and schools.

Forrette said the check from WG&E was an incentive for the work completed in August with the funds from the latest Green Communities grant of $168,740. He said the city did an interior lighting retrofit at the Westfield Technical Academy gymnasium, complete interior and exterior retrofit of the Fire Department’s headquarters and Southampton Road Fire Station 2. They also installed interior LED lighting in hallways and stairwells throughout Westfield High School.

Other projects completed with the latest grant included interior LED lighting in the Munger Hill Elementary School cafeteria and gymnasium, and the Paper Mill Elementary School cafeteria.

Forrette said the city is careful to do projects every grant cycle that will be paid for entirely with the Green Communities grant. This year he was able to make the grant go farther because the school district’s electrician, Mark Mottola, was able to do all of the work for Munger Hill and Paper Mill, and 95 percent of the work at WHS. Forrette pulled in Elm Electric for the rest of the work, which was covered by the grant, as was the work done at the fire stations by Siemens Industry.

Forrette said three times in the last four years, the city has received grant money from the Green Communities program and incentive checks from Westfield Gas & Electric, totaling $637,830 in grants used for energy savings, and $69,748 from WG&E which has gone into the general fund.

“We have gone to almost every school and every city building,” Forrette said.

Other projects completed through the first two Green Communities grants included LED lighting retrofits at the Westfield Middle School and Westfield Intermediate School interior gymnasiums, WHS gymnasium and pool lights, WIS energy management system update, WTA steam trap replacements the first year of the grant, as well as new walk-in coolers and freezer controls in seven school buildings.

Fire headquarters also had weatherization work done with insulation and air barriers; the Western Avenue Fire Department garage had repair work, the Twiss Street and Ponders Hollow Road public works garages had interior and exterior LED lighting retrofit, as did the airport terminal building and parking lot. The first year, the Building Department also got an energy efficient hybrid vehicle.

Forrette said he is going to apply for another grant in the spring of 2022, although he said the grants are getting more competitive, and the money for the projects is getting smaller. He said the savings are there, although with energy prices continuing to go up, sometimes the savings are hard to see.

Flaherty said some communities don’t apply for Green Community grants due to fear. He said cities have to follow a set of rules for the grants, but they are not that onerous, and save a lot on energy usage. Savings will also come over time, as LED lighting lasts 20 years.

Flaherty said Westfield Gas & Electric also has energy savings programs for commercial and residential customers.

Humason expressed his appreciation to Forrette for his work on the project on behalf of the city. “Let me say thank you. I know you’ve put a lot of time and effort into it,” he said.

In June, when Forrette’s appointment was unanimously extended by the City Council until 2024, it was pointed out that Forrette continues to bring significant savings to the city through his work as director of facilities.

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