Descripción

In April 2011, Virginia created the Clean Energy Manufacturing Incentive Grant Program. The program is meant to replace the Solar Photovoltaic Manufacturing Incentive Grant Program and the Biofuels Production Incentive Grant Program, which will be phased out by 2013 and 2017, respectively. Money is appropriated to the fund at the discretion of the General Assembly.

"Clean energy manufacturer" is defined as a biofuel producer, a manufacturer of renewable energy or nuclear equipment/products, or "products used for energy conservation, storage, or grid efficiency purposes." Renewable energy is defined in the statutes (§ 56-576) to include solar, wind, hydro, biomass, waste energy, municipal solid waste, wave, tidal, and geothermal. It may also include thermal or electric energy from biomass co-firing facilities. Public service corporations are not eligible for the grants.

A clean energy manufacturer can receive a grant for up to six years if it:

• Begins or expands its operations in Virginia on or after July 1, 2011
• Makes a capital investment of more than $50 million in Virginia on or after July 1, 2011
• Creates 200 or more new full-time jobs on or after July 1, 2011
• Enters a memorandum of understanding setting forth the requirements for capital investment and the creation of new full-time jobs

The governor may reduce the capital investment and full-time job minimums if the manufacturer is located in an area with an unemployment rate of 1.25 times the statewide average unemployment rate of the previous year. For wind manufacturers, the capital investment minimum is $10 million and the job minimum is 30.

Full guidelines for the Clean Energy Manufacturing Incentive Grant Program can be found  here.

The state will begin awarding grants on July 1, 2012.