$2.3B in tax credits awarded to clean tech industry

The Obama Administration unveiled a $2.3 billion tax credit package for more than 100 clean-energy related projects and companies across the country last week. The move was part of the Administration's ongoing efforts to stimulate a still-flagging economy and was a direct response to the unexpected loss of 85,000 U.S. jobs in December.

A press release from the White House states that the $2.3 billion in tax incentives "will generate more than 17,000 jobs. This investment will be matched by as much as $5.4 billion in private sector funding likely supporting up to 41,000 additional jobs." The administration is also asking for more money — an additional $5 billion — from Congress to expand the program as officials there have a backlog of additional projects that would qualify for the incentive.

What does the initial award mean for Oregon? A peek at the projects included in the award (a spreadsheet can be downloaded here) show three Oregon projects getting a total of $87 million in tax breaks.

• The lion's share went to SolarWorld, the German solar cell manufacturer which has operations in Hillsboro. SolarWorld received $82.2 million in tax incentives to reach its goal of having a plant that employs 1,000, produces 500 megawatts of capacity — what would be a $500 million investment by 2011.
• Centrosolar Oregon received a $4.7 million tax incentive for a new manufacturing plant in Gresham, the details of which are still to come. Centrosolar is another German company which specializes in crystalline silicon cells.
• Pacific Metal Fab of Eugene received $303,801 to re-equip and expand its manufacturing facility to produce components for passive solar water heaters, specifically tanks, plumbing modules, and the frames that hold them.

In addition, Solaicx, which has a manufacturing operation in Portland, was awarded $18.2 million for an unspecified project.

As Kent Hoover points out in Portfolio.com: The jobs of the future aren't cheap.