Chelmsford Receives Municipal Energy Technical Assistance Grant

Chelmsford is among the 37 Massachusetts communities who will share recently announced grant money distributed to help those communities develop clean energy projects.

The Municipal Energy Technical Assistance (META) grants announced by the state Department of Energy Resources totaled $455,000. Of that, Chelmsford will receive $12,500 to investigate an upgrade to the heating system in the Center for the Arts building, which currently uses electric heat pumps, according to the town’s energy manager Mashail Arif.

“What we found was that, they have a large auditorium space that’s a little difficult to heat up because it’s a large space,” Arif explained. “This past winter, it was a little difficult to get the auditorium up to temperature. We found we had to run the heating units 24/7, even at night when no one was there, just to get the auditorium up to temperature.”

Arif explained that the grant dollars will allow the town to hire an engineer or consultant to examine the heating situation at the Center for the Arts and suggest a more efficient solution. Whoever is selected from the standard request for qualifications and quotes process will also be asked to conduct a full energy audit as well, Arif said.

Once the consultant completes his or her work, Arif said the next step would be securing the funding to implement the changes suggested by that consultant. That money could come from additional DOER grants or as part of the town’s normal budgeting process.

DOER’s Municipal Energy Technical Assistance (META) grants are awarded to Massachusetts municipalities, regional school districts, and water/wastewater districts. META grants fund the services of expert consultants and contractors to aid in the negotiation and management of projects, or the performance of studies to support the development of energy projects. The grants are funded through proceeds from Alternative Compliance Payments (ACP) under the Massachusetts Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).

“This funding is a great step towards giving municipalities access to energy efficiency and clean technology that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to implement on their own,” said State Rep. Thomas A. Golden Jr., who represents Chelmsford. “Investment in our municipalities’ infrastructure is necessary as we transition to a green economy.”