ARRA “1603” Renewable Energy Grants Reach $3 billion

The ARRA created a renewable energy grant program, often referred to as “1603 grants”, that is administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury.  Grants are available for renewable energy sources put in service in 2009 or 2010.  Eligible renewable energy include

  • Solar – equipment that uses solar energy to generate electricity, to heat or cool (or provide hot water for use in) a structure, or to provide solar process heat.
  • Fuel Cells – capped at $1,500 per 0.5 kilowatt (kW) in capacity.
  • Small Wind Turbines – up to 100 kW in capacity. 
  • Qualified Facilities – include wind energy facilities, closed-loop biomass facilities, open-loop biomass facilities, geothermal energy facilities, landfill gas facilities, trash facilities, qualified hydropower facilities, and marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy facilities.       
  • Geothermal Heat Pumps     
  • Microturbines – capped at $200 per kW of capacity up to two megawatts (MW) in capacity 
  • Combined Heat and Power (CHP) – up to 50 MW in capacity

The total amount of money disbursed has reached $3 billion.  Most of the money has gone to large, utility scale wind projects.  56 wind projects have averaged $47 million each, or more
than $2.6 billion in total.  385 projects are for solar electricity or solar thermal and average $400,000 each or $156 million in total.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff Zeiss has more than 20 years experience in the geospatial software industry and 15 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His particular interests include the convergence of BIM, CAD, geospatial, and 3D. In recognition of his efforts to evangelize geospatial in vertical industries such as utilities and construction, Geoff received the Geospatial Ambassador Award at Geospatial World Forum 2014. Currently Geoff is Principal at Between the Poles, a thought leadership consulting firm. From 2001 to 2012 Geoff was Director of Utility Industry Program at Autodesk Inc, where he was responsible for thought leadership for the utility industry program. From 1999 to 2001 he was Director of Enterprise Software Development at Autodesk. He received one of ten annual global technology awards in 2004 from Oracle Corporation for technical innovation and leadership in the use of Oracle. Prior to Autodesk Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions. VISION* Solutions is credited with pioneering relational spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions (data versioning) in the utility, communications, and public works industries. Geoff is a frequent speaker at geospatial and utility events around the world including Geospatial World Forum, Where 2.0, MundoGeo Connect (Brazil), Middle East Spatial Geospatial Forum, India Geospatial Forum, Location Intelligence, Asia Geospatial Forum, and GITA events in US, Japan and Australia. Geoff received Speaker Excellence Awards at GITA 2007-2009.

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