$500 Million Awarded for Clean Energy Projects

A total of $502 million has been awarded for clean energy production projects under a Recovery Act-mandated cash in lieu of tax credits program. The awards, made jointly by DOE and the Treasury Department, are just the first round of grants that are expected to top out at more than $3 billion in total support for the program. This first round of funding is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs in the renewable energy industry.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said, "These grants will help America's businesses launch clean energy projects, putting Americans back to work in good construction and manufacturing jobs. The initiative will help double our renewable energy capacity over the next few years and make sure America leads the world in creating the clean energy economy of the future."

Eventually, the program will provide support for approximately 5,000 biomass, solar, wind and other renewable energy production facilities projects.

The program requires that recipients accept direct payments in lieu of tax credits. While tax credits have been consistently popular with renewable energy project developers, the economic downturn changed that. With financing sources disappearing, many projects stalled. The direct payment program is an effort to revive the projects and renew interest in renewable energy plant production.

The selected projects are in Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas. The great majority of the awards are for wind energy production facilities, but solar also is represented.

The program was created under Section 1603 of the Recovery Act. The application process opened on July 31, 2009. The awards were made in half of the mandated turnaround time of 60 days. More program awards are anticipated in the weeks to come.

   Quick Take: At one point, we—and probably everyone else concerned about the country's energy future—were concerned when anticipated DOE funding opportunities and guidelines were inexplicably delayed. That DOE and Treasury were able to turn these grant applications around in about 30 days is encouraging.

EERE news release

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