ANNAPOLIS, MD — Governor Martin O’Malley announced today the award of $2.1 million in Clean Energy Economic Development Initiative (CEEDI) grants, the latest in a series of grants intended to help create jobs by developing a vibrant clean energy sector. Using federal Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is awarding four performance-based grants that will further clean energy in Maryland while creating 70 full-time jobs and 105 construction jobs by 2012.
These four grants-together with past awards-complete the $5.35 million CEEDI program, which will result in 130 permanent green jobs and 230 temporary development and construction-related jobs during the next 18 months.
“The O’Malley-Brown Administration is committed to promoting Smart, Green and Growing opportunities across Maryland and creating a supportive environment for cutting-edge, innovative projects in clean energy,” said Governor O’Malley. “Maryland developed the unique CEEDI program with the goal of fostering clean energy jobs by investing in clean energy. By working to attract and grow businesses committed to a “greener” Maryland we are moving closer to meeting our long-term goal of generating 20% of Maryland’s energy from clean, renewable sources by 2022.”
• Maryland Energy Recovery of Frostburg will use $612,016 to support the first phase of its 20-megawatt (MW) biomass/coal-mix facility. Later phases of this biomass project could result in as much as 100MW of capacity. Maryland Energy Recovery estimates that this project will result in 18 jobs in Garrett County in 2010.