NECA’s government affairs team passed along some good news about stimulus funds from the U.S. Dept. of Energy today.
First up, DOE has announced it will invest $11.8 million – $5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – for five projects designed to advance the next stage of development of solar energy grid integration systems (SEGIS). The selections announced today are part of DOE’s continuing work to help assure the nation’s electrical grid reliability is maintained and improved as solar energy technologies reach cost competitiveness and increased levels of integration with the grid.
Initiated in 2008, the SEGIS activity is a partnership that includes DOE, Sandia National Laboratories, industry, utilities, and universities and emphasizes complete system development. The selected projects focus on the most promising technology advances and include development of intelligent system controls. These projects ultimately seek to maintain or improve power quality and reliability, as well as return economic value, while increasing integration of solar technologies into the U.S. electrical grid.
DOE also announced that it will provide up to $30 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects, depending on the applications and market conditions. Another $750 million will support several billion dollars more in loan guarantees for projects that increase the reliability, efficiency and security of the nation’s transmission system. The two new loan guarantee solicitations announced today are being funded partly through the Recovery Act and partly through 2009 appropriations.
The lending authority includes:
- Up to $8.5 billion in lending authority supported by 2009 annual appropriations for renewable energy.
- Up to $2 billion in subsidy costs, provided by the Recovery Act, to support billions in loans for renewable energy and electric power transmission projects.
- Up to $500 million in subsidy costs to support loans for cutting edge bio-fuel projects funded by the Recovery Act.
- Up to $750 million in subsidy costs, provided by the Recovery Act, to support loans for large transmission infrastructure projects in the U.S. that use commercial technologies and begin construction by September 30, 2011.
The two solicitations issued today mark the sixth and seventh rounds of solicitations by the Department’s Loan Guarantee Program, which encourages the commercial use of new or improved energy technologies to help foster clean energy projects. Applications will be accepted over the next 45 days. The Department has streamlined its processes to accelerate these new loan solicitations. By investing in both renewable energy technology for generating electricity and technologies to modernize the country’s transmission system, the Recovery Act targets the full integration of renewable energy sources onto the electric grid.
Read more information on this solicitation and the Department’s Loan Guarantee Program. Additional loan guarantee solicitations funded by the Recovery Act will be announced soon.
Finally, DOE and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that they are accepting applications for a program that will make direct payments in lieu of tax credits to companies that create and place renewable energy facilities in service. The two Departments estimate distributing at least $3 billion in financial support to approximately 5,000 bio-mass, solar, wind, and other types of renewable energy production facilities. The funding for this effort is made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
May 28th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Hi there, ive recently just been shocked at my electricity bills lately, paying way too much, im sure we can all agree? I think solar energy is the way to go, easy to set up and pretty self explanatory, and where i live, i can actually sell the power generated back to the grid, Pretty sweet. The post is really nice mate, giving me that extra push to go out plug my appliances in the sun from now on. Cheerio!