HARRISBURG – The West Branch Area School District in Clearfield County has been awarded a $500,000 grant to help reduce the district’s reliance on oil as a heating source, state Sen. John Wozniak (D-Cambria) said.
The award, which will go to install a biomass boiler system, was made through the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA).
“The energy efficiency project at West Branch is innovative and useful,” Wozniak said. “The biomass boiler system will significantly reduce the reliance on heating oil and enable the district to invest the savings into other critical school needs.”
According to PEDA, the district’s new system will generate up to 80 percent of the energy needed for heat. The district is now totally reliant on oil as its heating source.
Wozniak said the $1.2 million project will save an estimated 53,000 gallons of fuel oil.
Wozniak, the Democratic chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he encourages school districts and others to explore using new alternative fuel sources to increase efficiency and reduce costs. He said he was pleased that the West Branch School District was pursuing state resources to fund local projects.
PEDA is an independent public financing authority that utilizes tax-exempt and taxable bonding to finance clean energy projects. The authority can provide loans, grants or loan-guarantees.