It’s officially go-time for the clean energy component of the American Recovery Act, which passed in February of this year.  This week the federal government moved forward on two much-anticipated renewable funding initiatives designed to jump-start a new green economy.

First: On Wednesday, July 29, DOE’s Secretary Steven Chu announced $30 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects and $750 million to support and enhance our aging transmission system. The loan guarantee program itself is not new, in fact it is already seen seven cycles of solicitations. What is new is that this round of solicitations is promised to be a significantly more streamlined and accelerated process. The initial solicitation will focus on “innovative” next-generation solar projects and manufacturing facilities, then moving onto solicitations for solar projects that have already been proven commercially. The exact details on the solicitation process have yet to be released. For more information visit: http://www.lgprogram.energy.gov/.

Second: Just today the U.S. Department of the Treasury posted its online applications for cash grants. You may recall that Congress authorized these cash grants in lieu of the commercial investment tax credit (ITC) for two years- an effort to make the incentive useful in this economy that’s marked by meager appetite for tax credits.  Again, the cash grants will be funded through money in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s tax title. The application for the grants can be viewed here: https://treas1603.nrel.gov/.

Looks like project stimulate the green economy is about to start – and I don’t know about you, but we’re ready for it.