Federal stimulus money should help the United States double its manufacturing of renewable energy products in three years.
Similarly, the funds are on track to double the power generated by these technologies, such as wind, solar and biofuels, Sanjay Wagle, renewable energy grant advisor at the Department of Energy, said late Thursday.
Renewable energy generation also should double, says the Department of Energy's Sanjay Wagle.
The Energy Department has so far allocated 95 percent of the $31 billion of grants and $5 billion of tax credits included in the economic stimulus packaged passed by Congress last year. In addition, $18 billion of $75 billion in loan guarantees have been committed.
All the funds are to be doled out by the end of September.
Wagle said that because of the time it takes to negotiate the conditions of grants, only $2.4 billion of the money has been spent. In other words, more fiscal stimulus is on the way.
One industry expected to benefit is advanced battery manufacturing, where Asian producers until recently appeared ready to dominate the market, Wagle said. The government invested $1.5 billion in domestic companies that should have 15 percent to 20 percent of world’s manufacturing capacity, he said. “We have a new industry because of the recovery act,”
Critics complain that with only $2.4 billion spent, the program has done less than it should to encourage immediate job growth. Further, one study shows 80 percent of the jobs it created went to component suppliers and manufacturers overseas, says David Gold, lead cleantech partner at Access Venture Partners.
Wagle responds that the study is wrong. Fifty-three percent of parts for wind turbines come from the United States, he pointed out, and 63 percent of the value of wind farms comes from US companies.
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