Eight communities in Massachusetts will receive a share of $16 million in low-interest federally subsidized financing for the creation of renewable energy and efficiency projects, according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA).
Projects in Belchertown, Cohassett, Deerfield, Fairhaven, Gill, Haverhill, Kingston and Marshfield will receive a share of the $16 million.
Three companies will receive approximately $1.3 million each to install wind turbines. Conservation Wind Partners LP plans to install a 900 kW wind turbine on the Trustees of Reservations Whitney Thayer Woods Reservation in Cohasset.
Fairhaven Wind LLC plans to install two 1.5 MW wind turbines in Fairhaven. The company has a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the town for the power output. No Fossil Fuel LLC plans to install two 2 MW wind turbines in Kingston. The company has a PPA with the town for the power output.
The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, enacted by Congress in October 2008, authorized the issuance of qualified energy conservation bonds (QECBs) to state, local and tribal governments to finance certain types of energy projects.
QECBs are qualified tax credit bonds, through which the borrower pays back the principal on the bond and the bondholder receives federal tax credits in lieu of traditional bond interest payments. QECBs allow a project to obtain zero- or very-low interest financing while encouraging investment in clean energy projects.
