Washington County Energy Program

The Washington County Energy Program will reduce town energy costs and create local jobs by securing stimulus grant funds and utilizing performance contracting.   It is an integrated initiative to create jobs, reduce energy costs, and foster independence from fossil and imported energy sources.  It includes both efficiency investments in public buildings and development of renewable generation through solar and wind resources.

Participants in the Washington County Energy Program include the towns of:

and the school districts of:

Grant Funds

The WCRPC applied for and received an award of $750,000 as a grant, from the State of Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources, towards a Solar PV (Photovoltaic, or sunlight to electricity) project to be located on the capped Westerly landfill. In addition the WCRPC has been awarded one $750,000 grant for one turbine on Block Island and another $750,000 grant for two turbines in Charlestown. Due diligence is currently being conducted to determine the economic, environmental, and grid-connection feasibility for these areas.

Performance Guaranteed Contracting

This began as a way to leverage our stimulus funds, but can operate completely independently—and save our towns and schools considerably on their energy bills.   The Performance Contract means we contract with an energy services company (ESCO) to audit our buildings, recommend energy saving improvements, assist with financing, handle the contracting, and then guarantee our savings.  The improvements can be in lighting, the building envelope, controls, monitoring, behavior, or in renewables, and all improvements are paid for out of savings.