Landfills
Funding: Department of Energy
Renewable Energy Production Incentive
The Renewable Energy Production Incentive (REPI) Program was created by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 and reauthorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to extend through 2026. REPI provides financial incentives for renewable energy electricity produced and sold by qualified renewable energy generation facilities, which include not-for-profit electrical cooperatives, public utilities, state governments, U.S. territories, the District of Columbia, and Indian tribal governments. The facilities are eligible for annual incentive payments of approximately 2.1 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the first 10-year period of their operation, subject to the availability of annual appropriations in each federal fiscal year of operation. Qualifying renewable energy sources include:
Landfill gas
Solar
Wind
Geothermal
Biomass
Livestock methane
Ocean
Fuel cells using hydrogen derived from eligible biomass facilities
To be eligible, qualified renewable energy facilities must be operational before October 1, 2016. Funding is subject to annual appropriation, and the program has historically been under-funded. During years in which there is a funding shortfall, legislation requires DOE to allocate 60 percent of REPI funds to solar, wind, ocean, geothermal, or closed-loop biomass technologies and the remainder to landfill gas, livestock methane, and open-loop biomass projects. If funds are not sufficient to make full payments to all qualifying facilities, payments are made to those facilities on a pro rata basis. Congress has not yet allocated funding for fiscal year 2011.
To assist DOE in its budget planning, DOE requests that the owner or operator of a qualified renewable energy facility provide notification at least six months in advance of electricity generation. To receive payment, qualified facility owners and operators submit information, such as monthly electricity generation, to DOE during the first quarter (i.e., October 1 through December 31) of the next fiscal year. More details about the application procedure are provided on the DOE Web site at www.eere.energy.gov/repi.
State Energy Program
In 2011, DOE’s SEP estimates it will distribute nearly $39 million to about 56 awardees.
The Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program in the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy manages State Energy Program (SEP), which provides grants to states to address their energy priorities in the areas of energy efficiency and development of renewable energy technologies. In order for a state to be eligible for these funds, it must commit to all three of the following:
Instituting policies at state-regulated utilities that support energy efficiency
Adopting energy efficient building codes
Prioritizing grants toward funding energy efficiency and renewable energy programs
States will have discretion over how the money is distributed. Local governments and others interested in developing landfill gas energy projects should contact their State Energy Office to learn more about their state’s process for distributing grants. DOE has posted the list of State Energy Offices at www.naseo.org/members/states/default.aspx.
For more information, visit http://apps1.eere.energy. gov/state_energy_program.
Regional Biomass Energy Program
The South Carolina Energy Office worked with RBEP, local landfill operators, and industrial partners to install a landfill gas recovery system at the 196-acre Palmetto Landfill in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Established by Congress in 1983, the DOE’s Regional Biomass Energy Program (RBEP) seeks ways to facilitate expanded use of biomass resources for the production of renewable transportation fuels and electric power. RBEP also supports bioenergy applications in the industrial and buildings sectors. RBEP has established a network of five regional offices (Southeast, Pacific Northwest, Northeast, Great Lakes, and Western) serving 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. RBEP aims to increase the production and use of biomass for energy by providing information, technical support, and other assistance, and by mitigating barriers to commercialization of biomass energy technologies. The program’s long-term objectives are to:
Improve the capabilities and effectiveness of state and local governments and industry in producing and using bioenergy
Support resource availability and planning efforts
Encourage economic development by investing in bioenergy technology
Accelerate market acceptance of bioenergy technologies by reducing or eliminating market barriers and understanding economic and environmental costs and risks
Private, non-profit, and public entities are eligible for funding. Funding amounts vary from region to region. You can submit unsolicited proposals to the appropriate regional office in accordance with DOE Guide for Submission of Unsolicited Proposals. This guide is available online at www.netl.doe.gov/business/usp/unsol.html. Evaluation and award analysis will be performed by personnel at each regional office.
Loan Guarantees
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided billions of dollars in loan guarantee authority to build a new green energy economy.
Innovative Technology
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized DOE to issue loan guarantees to eligible projects that avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. The projects need to employ new or significantly improved technologies when compared to technologies in service in the United States at the time the guarantee is issued. DOE periodically publishes requests for applications for loan guarantees, which can target specific technologies or be general.
Rapid Deployment
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 expanded the Innovative Technology loan guarantee program with $6 billion for renewable energy systems, biofuel, and electric power transmission projects. “Renewable energy systems” include those that generate electricity or thermal energy (or manufacture component parts of such systems). Biofuel projects are limited to those that are likely to become commercial technologies and will produce transportation fuels that substantially reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions compared to other transportation fuels. The 2009 funds are limited to projects that commence construction by September 30, 2011. For more information, visit www.lgprogram.energy.gov.
For more information, on any of the funding programs mentioned above, visit www.epa.gov/lmop/publications-tools/funding-guide/federal-resources/energy.html.