According to my friend and Journalist Paula Holzman of the Central Penn Business Journal, the state has (finally) approved funding of the long-awaited Pennsylvania Sunshine Program. Paula wrote today online that "the state's Commonwealth Financing Authority yesterday approved guidelines for two programs designed to create jobs and make it easier for families and businesses to get greener".
"The $25 million High Performance Building program will provide grants and loans for constructing energy-efficient buildings or renovating structures to improve energy efficiency.
Businesses with 100 or fewer employees are eligible for loans of up to $2 million; families may receive loans (emphasis mine) of up to $100,000 for construction or renovation of their primary residence, according to a news release from the state.
Grants are capped at $500,000, or 10 percent of eligible costs, whichever is less.
The second program is an $80 million fund for projects that use or generate solar energy, manufacture or assemble solar equipment, or develop and build facilities for solar-technology research.
Eligibility amounts are:
- Loans of up to $5 million or grants of up to $1 million for solar-energy generation and distribution projects or solar research-and-development facilities.
- Loans of up to $35,000 and grants of up to $5,000 for each job created within three years of approval for manufacturers of solar-energy components.
The program is part of the state's $650 million Alternative Energy Investment Fund, which is expected to create 10,000 jobs and spur $3.5 billion in private investment, according to the state Department of Community & Economic Development."
Thanks Paula for the update. It should be noted, by the way, that the Commonwealth Financing Authority is a department assigned to disbursing federal "stimulus" dollars into the state. So yep, that money you'll be getting is coming from the Economic Recovery Act of 2009...
I'll be posting a thorough article shortly on what the funding for the Sunshine Program means to actual PA home owners who want to remodel green in Lancaster County and elsewhere in PA.
Jeff - I have not heard of this. Hopefully, this will provide a spark to our local economy and a long-term benefit to our environment.
One of my local friends is a Solar installer - he's pretty amped up about this (as you might imagine).