Gov. Beshear Announces Energy and Environment Efficiency Grant Awards

TVA settlement grants awarded to 13 Kentucky organizations, totaling $11.2 million

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Dec. 19, 2012) – Governor Steve Beshear today announced that 13 organizations are receiving grant funding under the 2011 settlement agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The recipients include education, housing, agricultural and economic development organizations and projects.  

“These projects represent many innovative initiatives in schools, universities, private industry, agriculture, non-profits, and local government and will help us to further the state’s energy and environmental goals, and provide long-term benefits to the citizens of the Commonwealth,” said Gov. Beshear.  “Many of the projects build upon existing programs that have already demonstrated the value of investments in energy efficiency technologies and practices.”

The settlement is a result from alleged violations of the Clean Air Act that requires TVA to invest in new and upgraded state-of-the-art pollution controls that will reduce pollution, save energy and protect public health and the environment. More information on the settlement can be found at http://www.epa.gov.

As part of the settlement, Kentucky will receive $11.2 million over a five-year period to implement environmental mitigation projects. The organizations and projects or programs that have received grants are:

·        Kentucky School Boards Association (KSBA): KSBA is awarded $700,000 to support the School Energy Managers Project in school districts in and adjacent to the TVA service counties. Based on actual progress of the program to date, the project expects to produce $2.4 million in annual energy cost avoidance by FY 2016.

·        Pennyrile RECC: Pennyrile RECC is awarded $3.1 million to support construction of a 5MW solar photovoltaic project at Fort Campbell in Christian County. The grant is leveraged with more than $15 million in financing support from Fort Campbell. The completed system will generate more than 6,651 mWh/year of electricity, enough to power 463 homes, while avoiding 4.7 million tons per year of CO2 emission.

·        Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC), Frankfort: KHC is awarded $3 million to support the ongoing KY Home Performance Program. The grant will fund three years of program operations during which at least 611 additional energy efficient units will be completed. The program will focus primarily on owner-occupied, single-family energy efficiency loans ranging from $1,000-$25,000 per home.

·        Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy (GOAP): GOAP is awarded $750,000 to support the KY On-Farm Efficiency and Production project. This is a statewide loan program that offers farmers up to $15,000 to adopt new technologies, renovate existing facilities, produce energy related crops and invest in other energy efficient measures. GOAP will invest half of the program loan funds in TVA service area counties.

·        Murray State University: Murray State University is awarded $309,000 to install, test and demonstrate a biomass heating system at the MSU Equine Center. The Bio Burner Units will offset fossil fuel energy with renewable energy at a rate of 40 mWh per year of electricity. One of the units will be portable in order to demonstrate a biomass-to-energy model to area farmers, industry and others.

·        Fayette County Public Schools: Fayette County Public Schools is awarded $335,000 to support completion of the integrated live energy metering project. The project comprises live energy monitoring equipment, live data analysis software, and a district-wide public-facing energy and sustainability education portal. The completed project will save more than $1.1 million a year in energy costs and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 11,000 tons per year.

·        Perdue Farms Incorporated, Beaver Dam: Perdue Farms is awarded $145,000 to support a project to divert poultry waste from the landfill to an anaerobic digestion and generator system. The result of the project will be the removal of 1,500 tons per year of organic waste from the county landfill and the subsequent generation of 620 mWh/year of electricity. Egg shell solids separated from the organic waste will provide additional beneficial uses currently lost to the landfill.

·        Bowling Green Independent Schools: Bowling Green Independent Schools is awarded $34,000 to purchase and install a solar thermal domestic hot water system for the school kitchen as well as a solar photovoltaic system to offset a portion of the total building energy. In addition to saving over 140 Mbtu/year of fossil fuel heating, the systems will be incorporated into the school’s science curriculum as teaching tools.

·        Southern Tier Housing Corporation, London: Southern Tier Housing Corporation is awarded $504,000 to support energy modeling and design research to develop more cost effective and energy efficient Houseboats to Energy Efficient Residences (HBEER) factory-built structures. The project will include construction of four new energy efficient, factory-built structures equipped with photovoltaic generation systems to be installed in the Kentucky TVA service area.

·        Hickman-Fulton Counties RECC: Hickman-Fulton RECC is awarded $316,000 to support a project to replace inefficient outdoor lighting fixtures with energy efficient, long-life bulbs. The project will save more than 600 mWh/year of electricity and reduce CO2 emission by more than 440 tons/year. The project is leveraged dollar-for-dollar by HFCRECC.

·        Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED), Berea: MACED is awarded $300,000 to support the On-Bill Financing Residential Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program. Under the grant funding the program will perform 150 energy efficient retrofits in area residences. The retrofits will save approximately 825 mWh/year of electricity representing more than $90,000 a year of savings on participating customers’ utility bills.

·        Department for Local Government (DLG): DLG is awarded $1.2 million to support continuation of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program. The EECBG program provides grants to local governments for programs that reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and utility costs for local governments.

·        Lord Corporation, Bowling Green: Lord Corporation, manufacturer of adhesive, coating and motion management technologies, is awarded $504,000 to facilitate improvements to the site’s chilled water and boiler plants. Savings achieved from the project comprise more than 1,256 mWh/year of electricity and more than 113,000therms/year of natural gas. Lord is leveraging the grant dollar-for-dollar.

Distributors of TVA power serve all or a portion of the following counties in south central and western Kentucky: Adair, Allen, Barren, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Hickman, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, Metcalfe, Monroe, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Warren and Whitley.