Early last month we wrote about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act program that provides cash assistance to energy production companies in place of earned tax credits. Yesterday the Energy and Treasury Deparments announced $502 million in the first round of awards from the Act. According to an offical press statement, the new funding “creates additional upfront capital, enabling companies to create jobs and begin construction that may have been stalled until now”.
“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”, said Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Created under Section 1603 of the Recovery Act, the program is expected to provide more than $3 billion in financial support for clean energy projects by providing direct payments in lieu of tax credits. These payments will support an estimated 5,000 bio-mass, solar, wind, and other types of renewable energy production facilities in all regions of the country over the life of the program.
This first round of funding will give more than 2,000 Americans access to jobs in the renewable energy industry, the government said.
