NJBPU Awards Clean Energy Grants to 19 NJ Municipalities
New Jersey's BPU awarded grants to 19 towns under its Community Energy Plan Grant program, bringing total funded communities to 159 since 2019.
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities awarded grants to 19 municipalities last week under its Community Energy Plan Grant program, part of a sustained push to help local governments map out clean energy strategies and cut utility costs for residents.
Seventeen towns will receive $10,000 each. Two municipalities, Newark and Long Branch, qualify for the enhanced $25,000 award as overburdened communities under the program’s equity provisions. All grants are administered through the NJBPU’s Office of Clean Energy Equity.
The latest round brings the program’s total to 159 communities funded since NJBPU launched it in 2019. NJBPU President Christine Guhl-Sadovy called the grants a sound investment for local governments trying to get ahead of energy costs. “CEPG is a great investment to help municipalities identify clean energy projects to help lower energy costs and benefit residents, especially those in overburdened communities,” she said.
The Community Energy Plan Grant program asks municipalities to develop localized clean energy plans aligned with the state’s Energy Master Plan, New Jersey’s blueprint for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and expanding renewable energy. The plans are built around four priorities: equitable access to clean energy, energy resilience, renewable energy adoption, and energy efficiency upgrades. Towns that complete a community energy plan become eligible to apply for additional incentives through the New Jersey Clean Energy Program.
Sustainable Jersey, a nonprofit that supports municipalities in sustainability work, provides technical assistance to applicants and has a particular focus on helping overburdened towns navigate the grant process. Executive Director Randall Solomon said his organization takes the role seriously. “Sustainable Jersey is proud to serve as the technical assistance provider for the Community Energy Planning Grant program,” he said. “It’s an honor to support municipal teams in planning actions that will reduce energy use and save money for the municipalities, while working toward making the goals outlined in the Energy Master Plan a reality.”
What that looks like in practice is already visible in some earlier grant recipients. Madison Borough used its community energy plan work as a springboard to retrofit two historic municipal buildings, both over a century old, with air-source heat pump systems. One of those buildings is replacing an old gas-fired steam heating system, the kind of aging infrastructure that drives up operating costs year after year. The projects show how grant funding can move beyond planning documents into real capital improvements that lower a town’s energy bills while preserving public buildings.
This round’s 19 recipients span eight counties and a wide range of community types. The list includes urban centers like Newark and Hackensack, shore towns like Point Pleasant Beach and Keyport, and rural and suburban communities like East Amwell in Hunterdon County and Byram in Sussex County. Monmouth County has the heaviest representation, with six municipalities receiving grants: Long Branch, Atlantic Highlands, Keyport, Neptune City, Point Pleasant Beach, and Wall.
The full list of recipients includes Long Branch and Atlantic Highlands in Monmouth County; Newark and Bloomfield in Essex; Byram in Sussex; Chesterfield in Burlington; East Amwell in Hunterdon; Egg Harbor Township in Atlantic; Englewood Cliffs, Hackensack, and Mahwah in Bergen; Hillsborough in Somerset; Jackson and Point Pleasant Beach in Ocean; Keyport, Neptune City, and Wall in Monmouth; Mullica in Atlantic; and North Haledon in Passaic.
For many of these towns, the grants represent an entry point into a longer process. Clean energy planning requires staff time, outside expertise, and community engagement that most municipal governments cannot easily absorb on their own. The CEPG grants, modest as they are, offset some of those costs and give towns access to Sustainable Jersey’s technical support network.
New Jersey has set ambitious emissions targets and the state’s clean energy infrastructure is growing, but achieving those targets depends heavily on what happens at the local level. Municipalities control zoning, building codes, fleet procurement, and public facilities. A town with a solid community energy plan is better positioned to act when state or federal funding becomes available. These 19 communities just got a step closer to being ready.
