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Municipal Water and Wastewater Treatment:

Assistance to Identify and Install Energy-Efficient Equipment and Processes

Case Study:
Rensselaer County

Rensselaer County Sewer District No. 1 owns and operates five wastewater pumping stations servicing the city of Troy, the city of Rensselaer, and surrounding communities. Many of the 30-year-old pumps at these facilities utilize variable-speed drives to control pumping rate.

Based on their evaluation, O’Brien & Gere, a NYSERDA FlexTech contractor, recommended replacement of all existing wound rotor motors and liquid rheostat drives with new squirrel cage inverter duty induction motors and variable frequency AC drives, as well as replacement of most pump rotating assemblies. In addition to extending facility life and addressing reliability and parts availability concerns, the improvements will decrease annual energy usage by approximately 737,000 kilowatt-hours and demand by approximately 1,120 kilowatts.

Rensselaer County Sewer District No. 1 received $34,000 in funding through the FlexTech Program. In addition, Rensselaer County is pursuing potential additional funding of construction costs through NYSERDA’s New York Energy $mart^SM Commercial/Industrial Performance Program and Peak-Load Reduction Program.

NYSERDA offers financial assistance to municipalities to identify opportunities for energy-efficiency upgrades in their water and wastewater treatment facilities.

NYSERDA also offers financial assistance to municipalities to install new equipment that will result in increased energy efficiency in their water and wastewater treatment facilities.

Financial Assistance To Identify Energy-Efficiency Opportunities

NYSERDA cost-shares studies on a 50:50 basis up to a total study cost of $100,000. Studies include:

commissioning of existing systems;
energy-related process improvement guidance;
assessment of the payback time for equipment replacement;
assistance with energy-related operations and procedures;
evaluation of demand management opportunities;
evaluating the feasibility of on-site electrical generation using either co-generation or an alternative energy source such as biogas.

The FlexTech Program refers qualified consultants to perform the technical study on building operations. In this program, the municipality and NYSERDA each pay the FlexTech Consultant 50% of the study cost.

The Technical Assistance Program allows the municipality to select its own contractor to perform energy-efficient improvement studies. The municipality pays the contractor and is reimbursed by NYSERDA up to 50% pending approval of the final report.

Financial Assistance To Implement Projects

The Existing Facilities Program provides performance-based incentives to contractors for implementing electric-efficiency measures including, motors, variable speed drives, lighting, and cooling. Municipalities work with the energy service company (ESCO) or contractor of their choice. The maximum award is $1 million, or up to 50% of project costs.

The New York Energy $mart Loan Fund buys down the interest rate on loans for energy efficiency improvement projects. The loans come from participating lenders, not NYSERDA, and are reduced up to 4.0% for up to ten years and up to $1,000,000.

Completed Projects

Click here to see case studies for completed energy-efficiency identification and implementation projects.

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