The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency announced that $750,000 of grant funding is available for energy efficiency projects at public water supply facilities.
The Public Water Supply Energy Efficiency Grant Program seeks to invest funds from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. The grants aim to help local governments’ public water systems to make energy efficiency upgrades to water equipment identified by previous energy audits.
The funded projects will reduce the amount of energy consumed by water treatment operations, thereby reducing energy costs.
The Illinois EPA says that grant applications will undergo a comprehensive, merit-based review. Scoring factors will include cost effectiveness, energy cost impact savings, energy rate, and projects located in environmental justice areas of concern. Application materials are available on the Illinois EPA website. The application period closes at 5:00 pm on February 2, 2024.
"Illinois EPA has been fortunate to provide similar energy efficiency grants to wastewater treatment facilities in Illinois, and we are excited to able to expand funding to public water supply treatment facilities," said Illinois EPA Director John J. Kim. "We look forward to investing in energy efficiency upgrades at systems that provide clean, dependable drinking water to Illinois residents."
The Illinois EPA Office of Energy is investing Department of Energy funds in projects across the State that focus on energy efficiency, resiliency, and clean energy technologies specifically in areas of environmental justice concern. In addition, Illinois EPA works with the Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC) and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) to help municipalities save energy and reduce the cost of supplying public water and wastewater treatment through no-cost energy usage assessments from SEDAC and ISTC. For more information, visit the Illinois EPA's webpage on Public Water Infrastructure Energy Assessments.
