SHERBURNE – The village of Sherburne recently became one of Central New York’s first communities to submit an application to NY Prize, for financial support in building a microgrid for the village.

NY Prize is a competition sponsored by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). NY Prize is the first competition of its kind in the nation. With a total of $40 million to give, NY Prize will assist communities’ efforts to design and build microgrids. Microgrids can help reduce energy costs, advance clean energy, and build reliability and resiliency into the electric grid.

According to its website, NY Prize offers support for feasibility studies, audit-grade engineering design and business planning, and project build-out and post-operational monitoring.

A microgrid is a small, local, electric grid. Under normal circumstances, a microgrid operates while connected to the main grid. More importantly, however, a microgrid maintains the ability to break off from the main grid and operate independently using local energy generation in times of crisis – like storms, power outages, or other reasons. A microgrid can be powered by distributed generators, batteries, and/or renewable resources like solar panels.