Stimulus money to aid clean energy projects - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Legislation passed overwhelmingly duringthe just-concluded Generak Assembly session authorizes companies to apply to the for grants to help pay for solar wind energy and energy-efficienc y projects. The money will come from $82.5 million in federal stimulud funds allocated to Georgia throughthe ’s State Energyu Program. Although GEFA officials haven’t decided how much of that pot to earmarkm forthe grants, it’ds certain to be more than the $2.5 milliohn in annual clean-energy income tax credits approvecd by Georgia lawmakers last year.
“We’rre real excited about it,” said Jasonh Rooks, president of LLC of Avondaler Estates, who helped lead the push for the “I think it’s going to really stimulate a lot of solar projectsz inthis state.” GEFA spokesman Shane Hix said the legislatioj limits the federal grants to business applicants, an effort to steert homeowners toward the stat income tax credits. Rooks said the statre program doesn’t provide enough funding for large commercialprojectzs and, thus, is more suitable to residential “Two and a half millionn dollars should be a decent pot of money for residential installation,” he said.
Jamez Marlow, CEO of Atlanta’s LLC, said the new grant prograkm will help many businesses more thantax credits, which don’tf do as much good during a recession. “Sau you’re having a bad year, your business is off and you don’t have much tax he said. “It’s better to get a check than a tax Underthe legislation, businesses could receive grants worth eithef 35 percent of the project’s cost or a fixed cap, whichever is less.
The cap will be set at $500,000 for projectsd involving photovoltaic cells, other solar thermal electrixc applications, active space heating or wind Grants for projects involvinf solar heating or geothermal heat pump lighting retrofits orother energy-efficien building products will be cappedc at $100,000. Credits will be awarded on a first-served basis, and a project must be installedd before an application canbe submitted. Hix said GEFA is developingy rules forthe program, which must be submitted to the Departmentt of Energy by May 12. At that the agency will announce how much ofthe $82.
5 millionb will be used for the cleahn energy grants and what will go towared other purposes, he said. “We have to balancee how much is goin to go to state facilities and to a revolving loan fund we want to have as he said. Hix said GEFA received a totalof $236.1 millionj in federal stimulus funds for energyt programs. Besides the State Energy Programj allocation, the agency got $124 million for weatherizatioh projectsfor low-income and elderly $21.6 million in block grantsx for energy-efficient building projects at local government facilities and $8 million for an energy-efficient appliance rebate program.