Billions of dollars are becoming available for boosting the energy efficiency of equipment used in industrial facilities.
On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed The American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (ARRA) into law.
There is no shortage of controversy surrounding this government stimulus package and its associated programs. But the fact is, the funding has been approved by Congress and will be spent by somebody. With that in mind, now is the time to take advantage of this offer and upgrade the efficiency of your operations to help ensure future competitive ability.
How does energy efficiency improve competitiveness? When energy prices increase—which they eventually will—those manufacturers relying on less energy efficient equipment will quickly see their margins erode, thereby ceding advantage to those manufacturers not as severely impacted.
State power providers are now offering an array of incentives to upgrade legacy equipment to more modern, energy efficient equipment. Yaskawa recently sent me an example of the incentives ComEd in Illinios is offering to commercial customers as a result of ARRA funds. Up to $300,000 in total incentives is available to commercial customers for purchasing new, efficient equipment such as energy management systems, building controls, and motors and drives. To view the Illinois incentives/policies for renewables and efficiency, click here .
Contact your local energy provider to learn about the incentives they are offering via ARRA funding.
The portions of ARRA enabling state and local power providers to offer these incentives are the:
-
State Energy Program: $3.1 billion for the Department of Energy’s State Energy Program, which provides grants and funding to state energy offices for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs conditioned on state Governors’ assurances regarding regulatory policies, building code requirements and the prioritization of existing state programs. Authorized under Part D of Title III of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
-
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program: $3.2 billion to assist local governments in implementing energy efficiency and conservation programs. Authorized in Title V of Energy Independence and Security Act.
Of potential interest to manufacturers of power storage and transmission equipment is the Advanced Energy Investment Credit , which establishes a 30% investment tax credit for the manufacture of advanced energy property, including technology for the production of renewable energy, energy storage, energy conservation, energy transmission and distribution technology, and carbon capture and sequestration. Up to $2.3 billion in credits may be allocated.
Also see this Control Engineering article on how ARRA funds are being used to upgrade water/wastewater SCADA projects:
-
Water, wastewater SCADA projects benefit from U.S. stimulus funds
– David Greenfield , editorial director
Control Engineering Sustainable Engineering News Desk
Register here .
