The Merrimack Valley Planning Commission is excited to announce funding for two separate efforts to move clean energy planning forward in the region.

MVPC has been selected by the State’s Department of Energy Resources to receive $63,500 in funding through the Regional Energy Planning Assistance Grant Program to continue assisting municipalities with Green Community related efforts – a State led program that provides communities with access to funding for energy efficient retrofits for municipally owned buildings. This money will also fund MVPC to progress their ongoing work with regional electric vehicle (EV) planning by convening an EV working group comprised of municipal staff, maintaining updated spatial data on EV charging locations, and prioritizing EV infrastructure projects for implementation. With these funds, MVPC will continue to position the region for infrastructural investments which minimize Greenhouse Gas (GHG) pollution.

Coinciding with this regional effort, MVPC has also been awarded $30,000 as part of a large multi-RPA initative through the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grant Program to develop the region’s first Climate Action Plan. This plan will encompass 167 municipalities within both Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and will be led by each subregions’ Regional Planning Agency. The planning process will occur in two phases – the Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP), set to be complete in March of 2024, and the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP), to be completed in the following two years. The plans’ contents will include a GHG inventory for the region, quantified GHG reduction measures, GHG reduction target goals, and a Low Income/Disadvantaged Communities analysis. MVPC will pursue municipal and community engagement in the region to inform the contents of these plans, and several municipal staff from the region have been identified to sit on advisory committees to oversee the plan’s development. The completion of the PCAP and CCAP will grant communities access to subsequent implementation dollars from the EPA to pursue identified GHG reduction measures.

MVPC is looking forward to pursuing these energy planning activities and positioning the region for substantial infrastructural investments to reduce GHG pollution, ultimately contributing to a cleaner, greener valley. For more information on energy planning work at MVPC, visit our program page, or contact Cece Gerstenbacher at [email protected].