With 389 applications in front of him and his Department of Environmental Protection colleagues from business, universities, municipalities and other institutions asking for some $800 million, Pennsylvania deputy secretary for energy and technology deployment Dan Griffiths has a tall task over the next several days. They’re spending $21 million on dozens of grants through Pennsylvania Green Energy Works, a new entity that combines several existing energy related programs, and will announce its initial grant recipients on Monday at a public meeting in Harrisburg.
“We have a responsibility. We’re in the fast lane on this one,” says Griffiths. “We think we’ll see substantial results with jobs, renewable energy creation and use.”
Money has been pouring in for Green Works, albeit piecemeal. Next week’s funding is made up of $10 million from a recently announced $39.8 million federal stimulus shot and will go to projects that are shovel-ready within six months and strive to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and stimulate growth in renewable sectors.
In the fall, Griffiths expects to announce another round of grants involving wind energy, with grants for geothermal and revolving loan program for green building coming early next year. Each funding success plants the seed for more federal money–another $50 million for state energy projects is at stake.
Griffiths says the state has a “more structured quality control system” to monitor all these new projects to ensure that the money is being used properly and that successful projects pave the way for more federal funds.
“One of the things we can’t do is take care of every need, but we can demonstrate effectiveness, create a trained workforce and establish demand that will go into the market after we’ve spent the money,” Griffiths says.
Source: Dan Griffiths, Pennsylvania Green Energy Works
Writer: Joe Petrucci