Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick this week signed legislation that transfers the state’s Renewable Energy Trust to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, streamlining support for the Commonwealth’s green economy by making a single agency responsible for fostering the development and installation of clean energy technologies.
Created by the Green Jobs Act of 2008, the Clean Energy Center (CEC) is charged with advancing the Massachusetts green economy through support for research and development, entrepreneurship, and workforce training, funded in part by a portion of annual Renewable Energy Trust revenues. The CEC has issued $4 million to date in grants for the development of green job training programs in growing clean energy fields.
“This legislation merges the work of two quasi-public state entities with complementary missions, consolidating staff and resources while establishing the Clean Energy Center as the primary agency responsible for growing the Massachusetts clean energy industry,” said Governor Patrick, who filed the legislation in April.
Funding has gone to improving the clean energy workforce development capacity of higher education institutions, vocational technical high schools and community-based organizations; launching “Pathway Out of Poverty” programs aimed at low-income workers in Lowell, Worcester, Springfield, Brockton and Pittsfield; and establishing a statewide network of programs to develop, train and maintain a cutting edge “green” workforce under the CEC’s Energy Efficiency and Building Science Skills Initiative.
The CEC is also responsible, in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, for the development of the Wind Technology Testing Center, a facility for the testing of large (up to 90 meters long) wind turbine blades funded by a $25 million U.S. Department of Energy grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). CEC is also the state’s lead agency for working with private companies seeking competitive grants funded by ARRA.
“Now this legislation gives the Commonwealth a one-stop shop for development and deployment of clean energy innovations,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles, chair of the CEC board of directors.
Effective immediately, the new law–An Act Relative to Clean Energy–makes the CEC the home agency of the Renewable Energy Trust, which has been housed to date at the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC), an incubator for innovative technology industries.
The Trust is funded by a small renewable energy charge on monthly bills of electric utility customers that generates up to $25 million a year.
Between Trust programs, federal recovery act funding, and utility ownership of solar power authorized by the Green Communities Act of 2008, the Commonwealth is on its way toward having 54 megawatts (MW) of solar power (a 15-fold increase since Governor Patrick took office) and more than 30 MW of wind power (a tenfold increase) installed or contracted for by the end of next year.
Loading...