In a remarkable 30-day proposal-to-award cycle, the DOE announced on Tuesday the recipients of over $500 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act awards for large wind and solar projects located in eight states. The funding is expected to generate 2,000 new jobs.
This is the first round of awards. The Obama administration and the DOE originally planned on providing $3 billion for the projects in the form of tax credits, but restructured the awards to provide immediate cash instead of later-arriving tax credits.
According to a DOE news release, the agency believes the payments will eventually support an estimated 5,000 renewable energy production facilities in all regions of the country over the life of the program.
The DOE and the Treasury Department began accepting applications for the program on July 31, 2009 and was required to make the awards in 60 days. DOE and Treasury note that these first awards were made in half the mandated time. The DOE promised that the names of additional award winners would be “announced in the coming weeks.”
Here are the first round awardees:
| STATE | PROJECT | LOCATION | AMOUNT |
| CO | Movement Gym PV System (Solar) | Boulder, CO | $157,809 |
| CT | Solaire Development LLC | LLC Danbury, CT | $2,578,717 |
| ME | Evergreen Wind Power V LLC | Danforth, ME | $40,441,471 |
| MN | Moraine II Wind Farm | Woodstock, MN | $28,019,520 |
| NY | Canadaigua Power Partners LLC | Cohocton, NY | $52,352,334 |
| NY | Canadaigua Power Partners II LLC | Cohocton, NY | $22,296,494 |
| OR | Wheat Field Wind Farm | Arlington, OR | $47,717,155 |
| OR | Hay Canyon Wind Farm | Moro, OR | $47,092,555 |
| OR | Pebble Springs Wind Farm | Arlington, OR | $46,543,219 |
| PA | Highland Wind Farm | Salix, PA | $42,204,562 |
| PA | Locust Ridge II LLC (Wind) | Shenandoah, PA | $59,162,064 |
| TX | Penascal Wind Farm | Sarita, TX | $114,071,646 |
A story in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, however, noted that half of the projects and $340 million of the funding is going to two companies headquartered outside the United States, Iberdrola SA (Spain) and Energias de Portugal SA. The WSJ also reports that despite the original $3 billion estimate, there apparently is no cap on funding and the DOE has pledged to award grants to all qualified applicants through 2011. The newspaper reports that some bankers estimate the total amount of awards could reach $10 billion.