American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The Bill authorises a stimulus package that supports new and existing renewable energy
and energy efficiency programmes. The bill supersedes the tax provisions of the Energy Improvement and Extension Act 2008 as well as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilisation Act 2008.

The Bill allocated USD16.8bn to energy efficiency and renewable energy programmes. It foresaw the extension of credit for electricity produced from renewable sources. The limitation on the issuance of new clean renewable energy bonds was increased by USD1.6bn. On completing the 2009 'National Electric Transmission Congestion Study', the Secretary of Energy shall include an analysis of renewable energy sources constrained by lack of adequate transmission capacity. The bill amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to create the 'Temporary Programme for Rapid Deployment of Renewable Energy and Electric Power Transmission Projects' that includes incremental hydropower and cutting edge biofuel projects. No limitation shall be placed on funding for the purchase and installation of energy efficiency and renewable energy equipment and materials.

Under the Bill, USD2.7bn was destined to the Department of Energy's 'Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Programme', created without funding by the Energy Independence and Security Act 2007, to finance energy efficiency and conservation projects and programmes through the concession of grants to states, territories, local governments and Native American tribes. An additional USD1bn was allocated to state energy offices to support weatheri-sation of low-income homes. USD2bn in grants was made available to US-based advanced battery manufacturing facilities.

USD400m was allocated to state and local grant programmes supporting advanced vehicles, and over USD80bn was destined for clean energy research, development and deployment, USD50bn of which was to be granted for direct appropriation and USD30bn in the form of tax-based incentives. USD277m was granted to Energy Frontier Research Centres to develop cost-effective alternative energy technologies and USD6bn was allocated to the 'Innovative Technologies Loan Guarantee Programme', established by the Energy Policy Act, to accelerate the deployment of commercial clean energy technologies. USD2.5bn was given for discretionary clean energy research and development managed by the Department of Energy (DOE), including USD800m for next generation biofuels and USD400m for geo-thermal technologies, and support for several research projects. Grants over USD110m were given to the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory to advance wind energy technologies, building new energy efficient facilities and upgrading the Laboratory's Integrated Bio-refinery Research Facility.

The Bill also allocated USD500m to a grant programme supporting clean energy work-force training managed by the Department of Labor and USD100m to support more workforce training that is managed by the DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

The DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will monitor performance in accordance with Risk Mitigation Plans (RMPs). For large grant programmes such as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), weatherisation assistance and State Energy Programmes (SEP), the DOE will provide assistance to national labs to help measure and verify results. Grant recipients must submit a plan of how they will use funds within 18 months and disburse funds within 36 months. The DOE will perform on-site monitoring annually in each state.