The grants provide the last increment of funding for clean and renewable
energy projects to be built in the commonwealth from sources such as
biomass, wind, solar, small-scale hydroelectric, landfill methane,
coal-bed methane and waste-coal.
The 34 Energy Harvest projects will produce or conserve the equivalent of
37,800 MW-per-hour a year, enough to power 5,000 homes, as well as reduce
harmful air emissions. The projects will eliminate 85,000 pounds of
nitrogen oxide, 131,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 2,700 pounds of carbon
monoxide and 10 million pounds of carbon dioxide. The projects also will
displace 167,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually.
Many of the projects are mid-size solar PV applications and farm-based
methane recovering biodigester projects. Here are just a few examples of
the package of new projects in order of project name or recipient, funding
allotment and a brief description.
-- Borough of Berlin: $200,000 to develop the Berlin Wind Turbine Project.
This project consists of three 1.8-MW turbines and is expected to generate
16,500,000 kWh a year.
-- The Pittsburgh Project: $48,460 to install solar hot water heater
collectors that were salvaged from Carnegie Mellon University as part of a
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building
project.
-- Pittsburgh Voyager Inc.: $100,000 to operate a new vessel, Voyager II,
on a diesel hybrid electric propulsion system, which will be operated with
a biodiesel blended fuel.
-- Eastern Middle Anthracite Region Recovery Inc.: $289,578 to install a
100-kW micro-hydro system on the mine outfall from the Jeddo Tunnel.
Revenues from the electricity generation will be used to purchases
materials to treat the outfall.
-- Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future: $200,000 to deploy a 1 MW wind
turbine to offset the energy usage at the Hazleton Waste Water Treatment
Plant.
-- Solar Power Industries Inc.: $73,115 to establish and promote
deployment of a Renewable Solar Energy Security System to supply electric
power to critical systems in homes in the event of grid failure.
Since its inception in May 2003, the Pennsylvania Energy Harvest Grant
Program has awarded $15.9 million and leveraged another $43.7 million in
private funds. For the full list of projects, see the following link.