Washington, DC – U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the investment of nearly $80 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for advanced biofuels research and fueling infrastructure that will help support the development of a clean sustainable transportation sector.  The selections announced today – two biofuels consortia for up to $78 million to research algae-based– are part of the Department’s continued effort to spur the creation of the domestic bio-industry while creating jobs.

“Advanced biofuels are crucial to building a clean energy economy,” said Secretary Chu. “By harnessing the power of science and technology, we can bring new biofuels to the market and develop a cleaner and more sustainable transportation sector.   This investment will help spur the creation of the domestic bio-industry, while creating jobs and reducing our dependence on foreign oil.”

Biofuels Consortia

Two cross-functional groups will seek to break down critical barriers to the commercialization of algae-based and other advanced biofuels such as green aviation fuels, diesel, and gasoline that can be transported and sold using today’s existing fueling infrastructure. The selected projects consist of leading scientists and engineers from universities, private industry, and government, and will facilitate sharing expertise and technologies.

The two consortia selected for funding are:

National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB) ($44 million)—Led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (St. Louis, MO), NAABB will develop a systems approach for sustainable commercialization of algal biofuel (such as renewable gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel) and bioproducts. NAABB will integrate resources from companies, universities, and national laboratories to overcome the critical barriers of cost, resource use and efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and commercial viability. It will develop and demonstrate the science and technology necessary to significantly increase production of algal biomass and lipids, efficiently harvest and extract algae and algal products, and establish valuable certified co-products that scale with renewable fuel production. Co-products include animal feed, industrial feedstocks, and additional energy generation. Multiple test sites will cover diverse environmental regions to facilitate broad deployment.

National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC) (up to $33.8 million)—Led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, NABC will conduct cutting-edge research to develop infrastructure compatible, biomass-based hydrocarbon fuels. The result will be a sustainable, cost-effective production process that maximizes the use of existing refining and distribution infrastructure. NABC will investigate a variety of process strategies and down select to those closest to larger scale demonstration. The NABC plans to further develop these strategies to deliver a pilot-ready process, with full lifecycle analysis to measure the environmental benefits.

Collectively, these consortia will be matched by private and non-federal cost-share funds of more than $19 million for total project investments of over $97 million.

Secretary Chu also announced today the selection of eight infrastructure projects to receive up to $1.6 million to support expanded fueling infrastructure for ethanol blends.  The projects announced today will expand ethanol blends infrastructure at existing retail fueling locations in nine states: Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.  The projects plan to install E85 pumps, retrofit existing pumps to dispense E85, and install blender pumps that offer ethanol blends up to 85 percent at over 60 stations. Collectively, the projects propose creating at least 45 E85 dispensers and 16 blender pumps along key driving corridors and areas with higher concentrations of flexible fuel vehicles.

The infrastructure projects will be matched with $3.9 million in non-federal cost-share funds, for total projects investments of $5.5 million.

View the complete list and project descriptions of awards announced today.

This includes large-scale carbon capture and storage demonstration projects as well as these smaller-scale demonstration projects of renewable and alternative energy technologies. Three carbon capture and storage projects have already been announced, totalling $466 million from the fund.

Nineteen successful projects have been selected in response to a call for proposals under the Renewable and Clean Energy portion of the Clean Energy Fund. Up to $146 million will be invested over five years in these projects to support renewable, clean energy and smart grid demonstrations with evidence of collaboration among partners and the potential to reduce barriers to technology implementation.

The Government of Canada will now invite the project proponents to begin negotiations toward formal contribution agreements to set the conditions under which funding will be delivered. The funding amounts are expected to range from $2.5 million to $20 million for each project. However, until a written contribution agreement is signed by both parties, no commitment or obligation exists on the part of the Government of Canada to make a financial contribution to these projects.

Successful Project Descriptions

Projects expected to receive $2.5–$5 million:

1. Biomass-based Urban Central Heating Demonstration

Lead proponent: SSQ, Société immobilière Inc.

Strategic Area: Buildings/Community Energy Systems

Location: Québec, Québec

Purpose: La Cité Verte is an innovative real estate project, which combines various initiatives related to sustainable development such as renewable energy utilization, energy efficient design, the management of water consumption, energy and waste management. The funding will support the installation of a biomass and wood-based district heating system. This project combines many technologies and partners.

2. Utility-scale Electricity Storage Demonstration using New and Re-purposed Lithium Ion Automotive Batteries

Lead proponent: CEATI International Inc.

Strategic Area: Electricity Storage

Location: Toronto and Cornwall, Ontario, and Manitoba

Purpose: This project will address electricity storage for renewable and high-density urban applications. The project will demonstrate utility-scale electricity storage systems using new and re-purposed automotive batteries. This concept will reduce cost for electric vehicle batteries providing a future market to meet urban electricity demand using automotive batteries.

3. Energy Management Business Intelligence Platform Development and Demonstration

Lead proponent: Power Measurement Ltd.

Strategic Area: Smart Grid

Location: Commercial buildings in Calgary, Alberta, Ontario and BCIT in Burnaby, British Columbia

Purpose: This project will develop and demonstrate smart grid technology, voluntary load curtailment and peak shaving in a commercial building setting. Most projects of this type to date have focused on residences. This technology will also enable tenants to voluntarily reduce their demand based on real-time price signals.

4. Wind and Storage Demonstration in a First Nations Community

Lead proponent: Cowessess First Nation

Strategic Area: Wind/Storage

Location: Cowessess, Saskatchewan

Purpose: This project aims to demonstrate a combined wind and storage energy system in a First Nation community. The successful demonstration would prove this system as a model for other First Nation’s communities across Canada.

5. Bioenergy Optimization Program Demonstration

Lead proponent: Manitoba Hydro

Strategic Area: Bioenergy

Location: Five locations in Manitoba

Purpose: This project is comprised of five different bioenergy systems at five different project sites. The project demonstrates collaboration between utility companies and customers. It is anticipated that the project will help to remove the perceived barrier of technical and operational risk and will promote the wide-scale adoption of bioenergy systems in Canada.

6. Offshore Wave Energy Demonstration

Lead proponent: SyncWave Systems Inc.

Strategic Area: Marine/Hydro

Location: Offshore Central Vancouver Island near Tofino, British Columbia

Purpose: This project will demonstrate the performance, operations and life cycle of a pre-commercial 100-kW wave energy device in ocean conditions typical of British Columbia’s open coast. Canada has potentially significant wave energy resources, and it is important for Canada to participate in demonstrations to further the technology, understanding of ocean conditions and the regulatory environment.

7. Demonstration of Waste-heat Recovery at Compressor Stations

Lead proponent: Great Northern Power Corp.

Strategic Area: Hybrid Systems/Northern

Location: Compressor Stations in Alberta and British Columbia

Purpose: This project plans to demonstrate waste-heat recovery systems on a variety of stationary, reciprocating engines greater than 1,000 hp. A successful demonstration has the opportunity to lead to commercialization and wide-scale adoption of this technology at compressor stations and other industrial applications across Canada.

8. Residential Implementation of Solar-thermal Heating Systems

Lead proponent: Enbridge Gas Distribution Inc.

Strategic Area: Buildings/Solar

Location: Greater Toronto Area, Ontario

Purpose: The project will use different types of solar collectors and storage technologies to verify and compare their costs, performance and technical qualities. The project has the ability to validate the technology and provide integrated systems at a lower cost to consumers, thereby allowing greater market penetration.

9. Food and Yard Waste Anaerobic Digestion to Electricity Demonstration

Lead proponent: Harvest Power Canada Ltd.

Strategic Area: Bioenergy

Location: Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre, British Columbia

Purpose: This project would be Canada’s first high-efficiency system for producing up to 1 MW of renewable energy from food and yard waste. If successful, this technology has the potential to be rapidly deployed across Canada as a mechanism to divert food wastes from landfills and produce renewable energy.

Projects expected to receive $5–$10 million:

10. Demonstration of Heat and Power from Biomass Gasification

Lead proponent: Nexterra Systems Corp.

Strategic Area: Bioenergy

Location: UBC Point Grey Campus, Vancouver, British Columbia

Purpose: This project will showcase biomass gasification integrated with an internal combustion engine generator in a novel, small-scale combined heat and power demonstration suited for on-site applications at public institutions, industrial facilities, and northern and remote Canadian communities. The project has the potential to overcome the difficulty of gas clean up and opens up the possibility of significant replication in Canada and overseas.

11. Energy Storage and Demand Response for Near-capacity Substation

Lead proponent: BC Hydro

Strategic Area: Smart Grid/Electricity Storage

Location: Golden and Field, British Columbia

Purpose: This project demonstrates the integration of energy storage as a mechanism for reducing electricity demand at near-peak capacity substations. This type of solution has the ability to be used in other remote communities where the grid reliability is low and the cost of the transmission line upgrade is uneconomical.

12. Interactive Smart Zone Demonstration in Québec

Lead proponent: Hydro-Québec – Institut de recherche

Strategic Area: Smart Grid

Location: Boucherville, Québec

Purpose: This project will ensure the installation of an interactive network area in a neighbourhood of Boucherville. This will demonstrate different technologies and concepts related to modernization of electrical networks, in particular the deployment of infrastructure for charging electric and hybrid rechargeable vehicles.

13. Biomass and Coal Co-firing Demonstration in Coal Plants

Lead proponent: Nova Scotia Power

Strategic Area: Bioenergy

Location: Coal Plants in Nova Scotia

Purpose: This demonstration project aims to determine optimum fuel blends for the potential co-firing of wood-based biomass with coal as a mechanism to partially replace fossil fuels with sustainable energy sources in coal plants. If successful, there is potential for wide-scale implementation across Canada and the United States.

Projects expected to receive $10–$20 million:

14. Tidal Energy Project in the Bay of Fundy

Lead proponent: Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE)

Strategic Area: Marine/Hydro

Location: Minas Passage, Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia

Purpose: The project plans to validate the performance and resilience of tidal current turbines in the Minas Passage of the Bay of Fundy. This will be the first Canadian deployment of commercial-scale tidal turbines. The project has the potential to advance tidal energy in Canada, provide economic impacts in the Atlantic region and place Canada as a world leader in marine renewable energy.

15. Northern Application of a Geothermal District Heating System

Lead proponent: City of Yellowknife

Strategic Area: Northern/Community Energy System

Location: Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Purpose: The City of Yellowknife is in advanced stages of project engineering and plans to install a district heating system by extracting heat from the abandoned Con Mine. This project has the potential to provide a cost effective and a more environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuel based heat. The information that will come out of this project on the effect of extracting ground-source heat from an existing aquifer and its associated long-term heat capacity will help determine if this technology could be replicated in other northern communities.

16. Electricity Load Control Demonstration

Lead proponent: New Brunswick Power Corporation

Strategic Area: Smart Grid

Location: Four maritime communities in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

Purpose: Traditionally, to accommodate the intermittent nature of wind power, other generation sources are required to follow the net effect of variation in load and wind power production. This project focuses on the integration between smart grid technologies, customer loads and intermittent renewables in a region with potentially significant renewable electricity capacity. It will allow utilities to better understand how customers will react to smart grid and which loads can be controlled by real-time demand balancing in up to 750 buildings, thereby assisting these utilities to capitalize on renewable resources in the region.

17. A 9-MW Wind Technology Research and Development Park

Lead proponent: Wind Energy Institute of Canada

Strategic Area: Wind/Storage

Location: Prince Edward Island

Purpose: The 9-MW wind park proposed will be the first wind/storage combination in Prince Edward Island. The project’s research base has a strong focus on information dissemination and would be a good base for supporting additional wind research.

18. Demonstration of Fish-friendly and VLH Turbines in Existing Low-head Water-control Dams

Lead proponent: Eco Joule Inc.

Strategic Area: Marine/Hydro

Location: Mississippi River System, Ontario

Purpose: This project will demonstrate three in-stream hydro technologies including fish-friendly, low-head hydro turbines along an existing water-controlled river system in Ontario. It has the opportunity to prove the technology concept, demonstrate cooperation with a conservation organization, and reduce the barriers to commercialization.

19. Community-based Geothermal Demonstration in a Remote First Nations Community

Lead proponent: Borealis GeoPower Inc./Aco Dene Koe First Nation

Strategic Area: Hybrid Systems/Northern

Location: Fort Liard, Northwest Territories

Purpose: This project will demonstrate how a northern community can use a geothermal resource to generate electricity and heat, thereby reducing the entire community’s fossil fuel demand and energy costs. A successful demonstration will provide a model for other northern and First Nations communities with available geothermal resources.

Media may contact:

Jocelyne Turner

Press Secretary

Office of the Minister

Natural Resources Canada

Ottawa

613-996-2007

Or

Media Relations

Natural Resources Canada

Ottawa

613-992-4447

In order to foster investment and job creation in clean energy manufacturing, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included a tax credit for investments in manufacturing facilities for clean energy technologies. The Section 48C program will provide a 30 percent tax credit for investments in 183 manufacturing facilities for clean energy products across 43 states.

This tax credit program will help build a robust high technology, US manufacturing capacity to supply clean energy projects with US made parts and equipment.  These manufacturing facilities should also support significant growth in US exports of US manufactured clean energy products.

The $2.3 billion in tax credits is being allocated on a competitive basis. Projects are assessed based on the following criteria,: commercial viability, domestic job creation, technological innovation, speed to project completion, and potential for reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.  The Department of Energy also considered additional factors including  diversity of geography, technology and project size, and regional economic development.

The program is currently capped at $2.3 billion in tax credits and was oversubscribed by a ratio of more than 3 to 1, reflecting a deep pipeline of high quality clean energy manufacturing opportunities in the U.S. These tax credits for clean energy manufacturing will help rebuild domestic manufacturing and bring private capital off the sidelines.

With this announcement, IRS has certified applications (MS Excel), and notified the certified projects with the approved amount of their tax credit.  Awardees will receive acceptance agreements from the IRS by April 16, 2010.  Credits will be allocated until the program funding ($2.3 billion) is exhausted.  Subsequent allocation periods will depend on remaining funds.

Estimated Jobs Impact and Timeline of the 48C Manufacturing Tax Credits:

Recovery Act investments of up to $2.3 billion for advanced energy manufacturing facilities will generate more than 17,000 jobs. This investment will be matched by as much as $5.4 billion in private sector funding likely supporting up to 41,000 additional jobs.

Timing of Projects:

The statute authorizing the 48C tax credits allows projects that are completed on or after February 17, 2009, when the Recovery Act was signed.  Projects must be commissioned before February 17, 2013.  The statute favors the selection of projects that are in service early.  As a result, some of the selected projects already have been completed and begun operation.

Applicant Pool:

The application deadline for the 48C program was October 16, 2009.  Over 500 applications were received with tax credit requests totaling over $8 billion.  The 48C applications pool was distributed across many clean energy technologies and was geographically distributed to more than 40 states.

Qualifying manufacturing facilities included the production of a wide range of clean energy products:

• Solar, wind, geothermal, or other renewable energy equipment
• Electric grids and storage for renewables
• Fuel cells and microturbines
• Energy storage systems for electric or hybrid vehicles
• Carbon dioxide capture and sequestration equipment
• Equipment for refining or blending renewable fuels
• Equipment for energy conservation, including lighting and smart grid technologies
• Plug-in electric vehicles or their components, such as electric motors, generators, and power control units
• Other advanced energy property designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions may also be eligible as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The statutorily specified review criteria included:

• Greatest domestic job creation (direct and indirect)
• Greatest net impact in avoiding or reducing air pollutants or emissions of greenhouse gases; lowest levelized cost of energy
• Greatest potential for technological innovation and commercial deployment
• Shortest project time from certification to completion

Expanded Support for 48C Tax Credits to Accelerate Manufacturing Job Creation:

Because the 48C program generated far more interest than anticipated, DOE and Treasury have a substantial backlog of technically acceptable applications. Instead of turning down worthy applicants who are willing to invest private resources to build and equip factories that manufacture clean energy products in America, the Administration has called on Congress to provide an additional $5 billion to expand the program.  Because there is already an existing pipeline of worthy projects and substantial interest in this area, these funds will be deployed quickly to create jobs and support economic activity.  In doing so, the Administration will employ new approaches to ensure that we maximize private investment for every dollar we invest.

WASHINGTON – President Obama announced the award of $2.3 billion in Recovery Act Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy manufacturing projects across the United States.   One hundred eighty three projects in 43 states will create tens of thousands of high quality clean energy jobs and the domestic manufacturing of advanced clean energy technologies including solar, wind and efficiency and energy management technologies.

As part of the Recovery Act, these tax credits are focused on putting Americans back to work by building a robust domestic manufacturing capacity to supply clean and renewable energy projects with American made parts and equipment.  These credits are also an important step towards meeting the President’s goal of doubling the amount of renewable energy the country uses in the next three years with wind turbines and solar panels built right here in the United States.

“Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future,” said President Obama. “The Recovery Act awards I am announcing today will help close the clean energy gap that has grown between America and other nations while creating good jobs, reducing our carbon emissions and increasing our energy security.”

“By investing in innovative clean energy manufacturing projects like these, we are not only creating good jobs now, but helping lay a new foundation to keep America competitive in the 21st century economy,” said Vice President Biden. “This is what the Recovery Act is all about.”

“There is no greater priority for this Administration than getting Americans back to work,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “The awards announced today, together with the more than $5 billion in private sector capital spurred by our investment, will drive significant growth in the renewable energy and clean technology manufacturing sectors, good jobs, an energized private sector marketplace and a leadership role for the U.S. in these crucial high-growth markets.”

“The world urgently needs to move toward clean energy technologies, and the United States has the opportunity to lead in this new industrial revolution,” said Secretary Chu.  “Today’s awards will create new jobs and jumpstart the industries we need to both solve the energy problem and ensure America’s future competitiveness.”

This effort, along with other Recovery Act investments, will drive significant growth in the renewable energy and clean technology manufacturing sectors and give the United States the ability to lead globally in these markets.  The investment tax credits, worth up to thirty percent of each planned project, will leverage private capital for a total investment of nearly $7.7 billion in high-tech manufacturing in the United States.

The projects announced today address the broad spectrum of manufacturing capabilities needed to support a robust clean energy economy.  The projects were competitively selected through a rigorous merit review process and the companies chosen say they will create more than 17,000 jobs in some of the fastest growing parts of our economy.

Today’s announcement includes tax credits for numerous clean energy technologies and companies, including:

Smart Grid – Itron, Inc.’s OpenWay CENTRON meter is one of the first smart meters for the residential market providing built-in, two-way communications and a remote on/off switch which will give customers more choice and enable utilities to provide higher reliability at lower cost.

The expansion of manufacturing capacity in their facility in South Carolina will allow an annual production of four million meters. Itron estimates that one year’s production of the meters will be able to reduce electricity use by approximately 1.7 million MWh per year.

Building Efficiency and Energy Management – W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. is producing an advanced membrane for high efficiency fuel cells for buildings and vehicles.  The company’s products can help enable lower-cost fuel cells for use in electric vehicles or to power homes and businesses.  They are also manufacturing an advanced turbine filter to improve the performance of gas turbines to produce greater outputs at lower cost and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Solar Energy – PPG Industries, Inc. will produce a double anti-reflective coating for glass to make solar cells more efficient.  At their Louisiana facility, PPG will produce a special tire tread component that reduces rolling resistance and improves fuel economy.  Before the solar industry had begun, PPG pioneered the first low-iron glass that has been used in solar cells and on countless solar installations over the past two decades. Today, this credit will help to expand the manufacture of one of the critical components of glass solar cells, the transparent conductive oxide (TCO) coatings of the glass, without which the cells cannot function.

Wind Energy – TPI Composites, Inc. is building a new manufacturing facility in Nebraska to produce next generation wind turbine blades. TPI says the facility will create over 200 new jobs and will have a capacity equivalent to supplying 265 turbines rated at 2.5 MW for a total electrical output of 663 MW  TPI will also be expanding their existing manufacturing facility in Iowa to meet the anticipated increased demand for composite wind turbine blades.  TPI’s composite materials made in both facilities are used to make lighter and stronger wind turbine blades and lighter and stronger (and more fuel efficient) vehicles.

While projects selected for this tax credit generally must be placed in service by 2014, approximately 30 percent of them will be completed in 2010.

As part of an innovative partnership between the Departments of Treasury and Energy, the two cabinet agencies worked together to develop, launch, and award the funds for this program in record time.  The Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit authorized Treasury to provide developers with an investment tax credit of 30 percent for facilities that manufacture particular types of energy equipment. Qualifying manufacturers will produce solar, wind, and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, microturbines, and batteries; electric cars; electric grids to support the transmission of renewable energy; energy conservation technologies; and equipment that captures and sequesters carbon dioxide or reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

One hundred eighty three projects have been selected for the tax credit today.  Read the full list of Selections for Section 48c Manufacturing Tax Credit (MS Excel).