The US Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released a report on the impact of the Treasury Department’s 1603 grant program.
The incentive, which offered a 30% grant on renewable energy equipment in lieu of recipients accessing other tax credit programs, was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and expired at the end of last year. There were attempts to have it extended given its popularity, but supporting legislation failed to pass (by a 49-49 Senate vote) a few weeks ago.
How successful the program was is only just starting to emerge. NREL estimates that up to 75,000 direct and indirect jobs and up to $44 billion in total economic output were supported by the solar power and wind energy projects funded by the initiative.
Furthermore, the ongoing operation and maintenance of projects will continue to sustain up to $1.8 billion per year in economic output over the lifetime of the facilities, which will be 20 – 30 years. Annual operation and maintenance of the PV and wind systems will support between 5,100 and 5,500 direct and indirect jobs
The NREL report states approximately $9.0 billion in grants helped finance over 23,000 PV and large wind projects, representing 13.5 GW of electric generating capacity – roughly 50% of total non-hydropower renewable capacity additions during 2009 – 2011.
While solar PV projects mad up a small portion of total funds and generation capacity (13% and 5%, respectively); they were the most prevalent type of project funded, comprising 96% of all projects.
Aside from wind power and solar electric generation technologies, the 1603 program also provided funding for technologies such as solar hot water, geothermal heat and combined heat and power systems.
NREL’s “Preliminary Analysis of the Jobs and Economic Impacts of Renewable Energy Projects Supported by the §1603 Treasury Grant Program” can be viewed in full here (PDF).
