Pennsylvania Awards $10 Million to 17 Clean Energy Projects

June 29, 2005

The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority awarded $10 million to 17 energy projects on June 23rd, including six projects to produce power from wind energy, biomass, and waste heat and three projects involving energy-efficient buildings. The power projects include $3.5 million to capture waste heat from a new coking operation in Cambria County to fuel a 130-megawatt power plant; $1 million for Community Energy, Inc. to build a 24-megawatt wind plant in the Pocono Mountains, 10 miles southeast of Wilkes-Barre; $650,000 to build a 3.2-megawatt landfill gas-to-energy project in Conestoga; $500,000 for Southeast Chester County Refuse Authority to build a landfill gas system that will produce 6.9 million kilowatts of electricity per year; more than $490,000 to convert waste heat from a graphite electrode manufacturer into 400 kilowatts of electricity; and more than $160,000 to run a microturbine on pure biodiesel fuel.

The building efficiency projects include more than $410,000 to build energy efficient "green" homes and buildings, including some zero energy homes, on a 300-acre abandoned industrial site in Allegheny County; nearly $265,000 to establish an Energy Star affordable housing program; and more than $77,000 to expand a loan program for energy efficiency improvements to homes.

In addition, four research projects will investigate biofuels, solid-oxide fuel cells, and solar cells, including new technologies to produce silicon for solar cells, and four grants will go toward other energy projects. See the press release from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.