Ten renewable projects pass incentive screening

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The Oregon Department of Energy announced late Thursday that 10 of 33 applications for the second tier of the Business Energy Tax Credit program were moved forward to the technical review portion of the process.

If they pass technical muster, the projects — five biomass related, three solar photovoltaic, one hydro and one geothermal — will be pre-certified to receive state tax credit incentives. Tier Two of the BETC program is reserved for projects that cost between $500,000 and $6 million. The maximum tax credit would be $3 million per project, but only $10 million has been allocated for the entire round, so the total of all incentives will need to come in under that amount.

The tiered system for approving BETC incentives was introduced earlier this year after the Legislature capped the money available for the incentive. Business groups are working on ways to reform the system to propose during the next legislative session.

The application window for Tier Two closed on June 30. The applications were judged by the following criteria:

• • Readiness to start and complete the project.
• • Payback period.
• • Jobs created by the project.
• • Cost ratio of power produced.
• • Geographic area and the local economic conditions.
• • Strength of the business plan.

Some notable projects that got the green light to move forward include:

• • A biomass project by Hampton Lumber Mills in Warrenton.
• • Another biomass project Farm Power Tillamook LLC which is using dairy waste to generate power and received $1 million federal funding last month.
• • A geothermal project in Lakeview.
• • A hydro power project by Farmers Irrigation District in Hood River.

A full listing of the projects is available from the Department of Energy (PDF).

If any of the projects don't pass the technical review, a lower-ranking application may be revisited. Applicants that didn't make the cut can apply for the second Tier Two round in October.

Should one or more of the top ranking projects fail to meet any of the technical standards for preliminary BETC certification, or any applicant chooses to withdraw their application, the department of energy director may choose to advance a lower-ranking project from the list of remaining applicants to the technical review process. Applicants who are not moved forward to technical review in this first round may apply for the second Tier Two round that will open in October 2010.