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MHT's Jackie Noblett: Fuel cell cutbacks may be good for companies
MHT's Efrain Viscarolasaga: Tech companies may have to wait for stimulus funds
The stimulus dollars earmarked for clean energy projects are beginning to dribble out from state and federal programs, but when that money will actually trickle down to clean-tech companies remains to be seen.
More than five months after its signing, key parts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s grant and loan programs are still being hashed out by officials at the U.S. Department of Energy, much to the chagrin of anxious executives pegging big projects on public money. Yet the tension between the urgent needs of clean-tech companies and the grinding nature of government bureaucracy is not unexpected.
“The prevailing wisdom out there is that the money isn’t moving as fast as people would like,” said Nick d’Arbeloff, executive director of the New England Clean Energy Council. “I think you’d need a crystal ball to know exactly what programs will release how much money when.”
That has some local technology companies that are looking to use stimulus dollars for major projects playing the waiting game.
“Our facility in Massachusetts is pending stimulus funding or winning some other federal grant,” said Christina Lampe-Önnerud, CEO of Boston-Power Inc.
The Westborough company is hoping to receive $100 million in funding through the advanced battery manufacturing grant program to build a battery manufacturing plant in Auburn.
“The fact is we need to offset the capital cost of the project. We’re still in a framework where the private finance community doesn’t believe you can build manufacturing in the United States,” she added. “We haven’t heard anything yet, but we’re eagerly awaiting word, and I trust that we will get funding.”
The stimulus act also was looked to by renewable energy developers as a way to open up the project finance market shuttered since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last fall. While guidelines from the U.S. Department of Treasury on how wind, solar and other projects can apply for 30 percent investment grants instead of tax credits was seen as a step in the right direction, insiders say it will take months to move the needle.
“I think the stimulative effect of those programs are ahead of us,” said Carol Grant, senior vice president of external affairs for Newton wind developer First Wind Holdings Inc.
First Wind expects to apply for the grant program when it begins accepting applications next month, as well as a yet-to-be outlined program to guarantee loans for commercial-scale energy projects.
The firm has gone out to the private financing community, bringing in $191 million in loans from two foreign firms to finance a wind project in Maine as well as corporate functions.
“It’s not going to make it easy, but it’s going to make it possible for more projects to move forward,” Grant said.
A substantial number of clean-tech firms join Boston-Power and First Wind in line for ARRA funding. About 39 companies are applying for 64 ARRA-funded projects, including a handful looking for R&D funds and smart grid demonstration projects, according to data collected by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Another hundred entities bid for stimulus projects and programs administered by the state Department of Energy Resources.
One company with funding already in its pocket is American Superconductor Corp. The Devens maker of energy transmission components received $12 million to manufacture superconductor wires for smart electrical grid demonstrations.
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