Avon builds all-electric public works garage

Avon is charging ahead on climate goals with a new all-electric public works facility. Members of the Avon Town Council and Holy Cross Energy affiliates recently cut the ribbon to officially open Avon’s new, all-electric public works garage. The facility is Avon’s first designated public works garage, giving the town’s snowplows and their drivers a warm place to operate out of in the winter.

“We all know the importance of snow removal, which makes the difference between keeping our town running and having our town come to a standstill,” Mayor Tamra Nottingham Underwood said. “It is Avon’s snowplow drivers that are the first on the road in the very early, cold, wet and dark hours of morning. They are clearing and opening the roads for all of us.”

“The town was not able to identify any existing examples of all-electric public works garages, which left our team with the challenge of creating a unique design for this facility, rather than copying an existing design,” Nottingham Underwood continued. “Not inexpensive, of course.”

Avon’s public works garage is powered by solar energy from 24 kilowatts of rooftop panels, with 60 kilowatts of battery storage that supply energy to the building’s boiler system. During Holy Cross Energy’s peak hours, the stored battery power activates, helping the town reduce strain on the electrical grid.

“The Town of Avon council debated whether to commit to an all-electric design, which bucks the status quo in the conventional design of garages,” Nottingham Underwood said. “After much debate, and knowing how lucky we are to partner with Holy Cross Energy as our electricity provider, Avon council recognized that the time is now.”