NJ Launches Green Technology Fund, Withdraws from Climate Initiative

New Jersey's Economic Development Authority announced the Edison Innovation Green Growth Fund (EIGGF), a new loan program with a performance grant component to grow the state's energy efficiency and Class 1 renewable energy technology companies. The fund offers five-year fixed term loans of up to $1 million to eligible companies that have begun generating commercial revenues and are seeking matching funds (1:1 by the time of loan closing). If the company achieves certain milestones, up to 50 percent of the loan will convert to a performance grant at the end of year five. The program is supported by funding through the state Board of Public Utilities. Eligible technologies include:

• Energy Efficiency Products — Energy efficiency equipment and technologies that reduce electric or natural gas consumption (e.g., furnaces, boilers, air conditioning systems and lighting systems); and,
• Class I Renewable Energy —Technologies or equipment that can demonstrate their integral nature to the development of Class I renewable energy technologies (e.g., Photovoltaic, solar, wind, fuel cells, wave, tidal, biomass and methane gas from landfills).

Read more about the fund...

Gov. Chris Christie also announced that by the end of this year, New Jersey would become the first state to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — a 10-state cap-and-trade program. Gov. Christie maintains that RGGI has "no discernible or measurable impact upon our environment." However, the governor said that he is committed to increasing the proportion of electricity generated by natural gas and renewable energies. In less than three years almost $700 million has been generated by RGGI for the participating states, with much of it going towards renewable energy and consumer energy-efficiency programs, according to an article in the New York Times.