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Kingston staff to pursue design work for one building amid $24M decarbonization estimate; thermal network technical assistance ongoing
Summary
City staff told the commission that a consultant's energy model estimates $24 million to decarbonize multiple municipal buildings. With $3 million available, staff expect to proceed with full design for one high-profile building, continue technical analysis of thermal energy network options and pursue grant funding.
City sustainability staff reported Jan. 22 that an energy consultant's model estimated about $24 million to decarbonize the city's building portfolio, while the city currently has roughly $3 million available for implementation. Julie Noble, the city's sustainability coordinator, said the plan now is to move forward with construction-level design for a prioritized high-profile building and produce 60% construction documents to enable implementation steps.
Noble said the estimated total cost covers multiple buildings; with available funds far short of the estimate, staff intend to complete full design for a single building so the city can "walk the walk in our most high-profile building," then seek additional funding for broader work. "We're projecting eight months or less, meaning that this entire grant will be completed this year," Noble said about the consultant scope and the anticipated schedule for the current grant-funded project.
Separately, city staff described weekly technical meetings on municipal thermal energy networks (combined heating and cooling systems) for Midtown and downtown clusters. Noble said the city is receiving technical assistance through the Department of Energy's on-site Technical Assistance Program (TAP), with Pace University providing analysis of heating and cooling loads. The city is evaluating roughly seven municipal buildings and several nonmunicipal buildings in Midtown, and additional municipal buildings downtown plus a wastewater treatment plant as potential thermal network participants.
Noble said the city is applying to the Coalition for Green Capital (described in the meeting as 'CGC') municipal investment fund: an initial phase request for $250,000, followed by a larger second-phase request for multiple millions to advance a thermal network and associated projects.
On municipal solar, Noble said permitting and interconnection paperwork had to be resubmitted for central projects and that NYSERDA-related items are moving through the review; one pavilion rooftop solar project was noted as moving ahead with county funding plus other grants. On battery storage, staff described previous attempts that did not proceed and said the city presently has no active battery storage installation; commissioners discussed ownership options, lease models and resilience use cases for storage and for a potential microgrid at a priority building.
Noble said the city continues to meet weekly with peer communities to learn from other municipal thermal network deployments and that the scope of the consultant work will be reviewed by a project advisory committee drawn from staff and commission volunteers.
Ending: Staff said they will continue the RFP process for consultant selection and pursue grant opportunities; decisions about larger-scale construction will depend on securing additional funding.
