State environmental officials traveled to the Vineyard on Friday morning to formally present more than $284,000 in grants to help pay for clean energy projects for the towns of Tisbury and West Tisbury through the Green Communities Act.

Mark Sylvia, the Massachusetts Commissioner of Energy Resources, and Rick Sullivan, the state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, joined state Sen. Dan Wolf and Rep. Tim Madden in congratulating the towns for their designations. The presentation took place on the grounds of the Agricultural Fair in West Tisbury.

As the Ferris wheel turned in the distance and the smell of fried food floated on the air, Commissioner Sylvia remarked on the setting as a fitting place to hand out such an award. “It is an absolute pleasure to be here to join the Agricultural Society and the towns of Tisbury and West Tisbury to celebrate two of our newest designated green communities,” he said.

The green communities designation and grant program empowers towns to adopt renewable energy bylaws and cut overall energy use. In order to receive the designation, the towns had to meet certain criteria including developing a plan to reduce energy use in the town by 20 per cent within five years, and adopting the new Board of Building Regulations and Standards Stretch Code that minimizes energy costs for new construction.

In addition to the grants, each town received a certificate from the commonwealth and four road signs identifying the towns as green communities. Commissioner Sylvia said Tisbury and West Tisbury joined 15 other Massachusetts towns in bringing the total number of green communities to more than 100.

Secretary Sullivan said the large number of communities is not only significant but surprising.

“When we first started a couple of years ago, we thought we would have about 10 communities a year,” he said in an interview before the presentation. “It has been growing very fast. Now take the population of 103 communities and you have just under 50 per cent of the population of the commonwealth living in green communities.”

He emphasized the importance of Vineyard citizens taking part in their local government decisions.

“With all due respect to my colleagues, I think the most important decisions are the ones that are made on the local level,” Secretary Sullivan said, “because the residents obviously know and understand their community better than anybody else. They get the education, discuss and debate the issues and then vote, whether that is in a town meeting or at the board of selectmen . . . I want to thank the citizens of Tisbury and West Tisbury for their hard work.”

Senator Wolf agreed that energy renewal plans and decisions should be made at the town level.

“It is appropriate that we are here at the agricultural fair,” said Senator Wolf, “because Martha’s Vineyard has shown leadership in growing and distributing local food. [This] needs to be driven from the initiative in our community. Energy production, distribution and consumption is exactly the same.”

Mr. Madden added his congratulations to the towns.

“To have the commissioner and the secretary on the Island at the same time for the fair is truly a treat. This is the best fair in the commonwealth,” he said, adding:

“But really we are here [because of] these two communities. It’s no small undertaking. Only a handful of towns have received this recognition in our district, and to do it is a lot of hard work . . . I’m here to applaud the towns of Tisbury and West Tisbury.”

The grant money is funded through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Tim Twombly, a member of the West Tisbury energy committee, said the checks presented on Friday are set-aside grants. The committees will now designate specific renewable power and energy efficiency projects with the greatest need in the community and state. Projects to be funded will be finalized in the fall.