As observers are pointing out, to date, only a fraction of the federal stimulus funds have been doled out. A full two-thirds of the $787 billion promised by Washington is still left to be disbursed in 2010. The lag is even more pronounced when it comes to government investment in clean energy development: as Bloomberg reports, the U.S., China and other large economies are together sitting on 91 percent of the $177 billion promised in so-called “green stimulus funds.”
The funds continue to trickle down, however. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) today announced that it has been awarded $4 million in federal grant funding to expand the city’s use of solar energy. A $3.5 million grant was also awarded to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. That grant is to be used for job-training in the solar energy sector.
As reported by the Sacramento Business Journal:
SMUD will use the funding to continue its pilot program researching solar energy use in homes. SMUD aims to determine how well energy storage systems can support the utility’s peak hours, between 4 and 7 p.m., when the output from photovoltaic systems tends to drop off.
The $3.5 million grant for the California Community Colleges Board of Governors will go toward the administration of a California Solar Training Partnership. The partnership includes local community colleges, the California Energy Commission, the Labor Management Cooperative Committee and the California Center for Sustainable Energy.
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