The Daily Reporter – WI Construction News & Bids Wisconsin's Construction Authority
The Public Service Commission awarded a $500,000 grant to Revitalize Milwaukee for insulation and upgrading efficiency furnaces for low income residents in southeast Wisconsin. (Photo courtesy of Catalyst Construction.)
Revitalize Milwaukee (RM) officials on Friday announced the Public Service Commission awarded a $500,000 grant to the nonprofit to fix low-income owners’ houses for free in southeastern Wisconsin.
The grants will be awarded to 32 energy-related projects for renewable energy deployment and storage and other energy efficiency projects, officials said. Contractors will provide cost-saving upgrades such as attic and basement insulation and upgraded high-efficiency furnaces to turn energy costs down for homeowners, officials added.
RM will expand its energy-efficient project within its home repair program in partnership with Kevin Kane of Green Homeowners United, LLC and its contract network, officials said.
The nonprofit will repair up to 50 homes in both Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties. In 2022, the nonprofit received $500,000 to serve 50 homeowners successfully. RM will use the funds to serve seniors, veterans and people living with disabilities, RM CEO Lynnea Katz-Petted said in a statement.
“We are grateful to be a partner and through our Energy Efficiency Program, continue to provide much-needed energy and cost-saving upgrades such as attic and basement insulation, and upgraded high-efficiency furnaces to help reduce energy costs for our homeowners. We will continue to engage in science-focused energy efficiency and high-efficiency HVAC improvements, working with locally based, often minority-owned contractors,” Katz-Petted said.
The funding comes from the PSC’s Energy Innovation Grant Program (EIGP,) nonprofit officials said. The state agency awarded nearly $10 million in funding in the EIGP for 2023.
PSC Chair Rebecca Cameron Valcq said the awards funding ties in with the statewide goal for carbon-free electricity consumption for 2050.
“The projects awarded funding by the Commission represent a new cycle of forward-thinking energy innovation that will create jobs, reduce costs for Wisconsinites, and support the statewide goal of carbon-free electricity consumption by 2050. I am proud of the Commission’s work to award these grants to Wisconsin manufacturers, tribes, educational institutions and communities, and make these projects possible,” Valcq said in a statement.
