The economic stimulus will send a cash infusion to sustainable energy industries in North Carolina.
State leaders and energy experts were still unsure Friday about the precise amount headed for jobs such as building solar panels or retrofitting government buildings to save energy, but say it will be massive compared with what green companies are accustomed to. From the $6.1 billion that is headed for the state, nearly $113 million will be designated for low-income families and senior citizens to weatherize their homes.
The State Energy Office, meanwhile, is expecting at least 12 times its typical federal allocation of less than $1 million a year, and perhaps as much as $77 million, for efforts to boost energy efficiency and alternative energy.
Everyone involved, from companies that will do the work to the government officials who will dispense the money, has been been scrambling for weeks to plan for the flood of cash, despite budgets too tight to hire and the uncertainty about the money and stipulations that federal officials may add.
“There is only so much we can do before we know what we’re getting,” said Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for Gov. Beverly Perdue. “There will be a team of accountability folks, and it will be worked out very quickly, though, because we want to put this money to work fast and do it in a way that is accountable.”
People in departments across the state government had been pulling together lists of projects that might fit whatever uses are allowed for the money, and consulting with technical experts, advocates, university and community college officials, and business owners.
State leaders and those in municipalities including Raleigh have been pulling together lists of “shovel-ready” projects — a term that has been thrown around so often in recent weeks that many are weary of it. Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen said officials from several departments also have been meeting to plan as much as they can without having more detail.
“If anybody can react quickly to something like this, it’s local governments,” Allen said, “because we don’t have as many layers, legislative or administrative, to push through.”
Money on the way, fast
Adding to the challenge of spending the money responsibly is the fact that it will arrive quickly, leaving little time to prepare, and will have to be spent quickly, too.
Steve Kalland, director of the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University, was among a small group from several states who met with Energy Secretary Steve Chu last week. Chu said that money could start flowing to states within 30 days of the final approval of the stimulus package, compared with a more typical 12- to 18-month wait for such funds.
Kalland, whose group provides technical support and outreach on energy matters including green building and energy efficiency improvements, said experts from all over NCSU had been meeting to plan. As it has for most everyone involved, though, that had been difficult because of hiring freezes and tight budgets.
“Right now, I need to be ramping up, and so do my counterparts, and in the current budget environment that is a challenge,” Kalland said.
Tom O’Dwyer, whose small Chapel Hill company has built some of the Triangle’s most energy efficient homes, said his company and many others its size — if they haven’t gone bankrupt — have shifted from constructing homes to remodeling and retrofitting energy-efficiency improvements such as better insulation and intensive caulking.
