Bill > A4512

Introduced Session

This bill creates a Clean Energy Technology Center (center) within the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to administer an Alternative and Clean Energy Investment Trust Fund (trust fund). Under the bill, the center is authorized to use trust fund financing to finance clean energy technology research and provide loans and loan guarantees to companies, institutions of higher education, and nonprofits to encourage the creation of clean energy technology ventures and the training of workers to perform associated "green jobs." The bill specifically authorizes the center to provide loans and loan guarantees from the trust fund to: (1) stimulate increased financing for the expansion of clean energy research and development facilities by leveraging private financing and providing related financing, including financing for construction and expansion; (2) provide financing to State institutions of higher education to develop a curriculum relative to clean energy and clean energy technology; (3) make targeted investments in clean energy research and promote manufacturing activities for new and existing advanced clean energy technologies; (4) make financing available to institutions of higher education, businesses, and other institutions to encourage the federal government, industry, and other entities to provide funding; (5) provide bridge financing in anticipation of such awards; and (6) fund programs and investments that promote economic self-sufficiency for low and moderate income communities in the clean energy industry. Financing by the center from the trust fund is to be governed by rules to be approved by the board of directors of the center established under the bill. The bill provides that the 10-member board is to include representatives of government, educational institutions, and private industry, including an engineer or scientist, a chief executive officer of a New Jersey-based clean energy corporation, a representative of electric public utility ratepayers, and a venture capitalist with expertise in clean energy technologies. The bill also authorizes a study of the clean energy sector, to examine the sector's future workforce needs and its growth rate and levels of private investment, real property owned by the State available and suitable for the installation and operation of renewable energy facilities, energy efficiency opportunities on real property owned by the State, and the future funding requirements of the center. The trust fund created by the bill would be financed with revenues received from the societal benefits charge established pursuant to section 12 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-60) (i.e., the "Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act") and is intended to stimulate the growth of the State's clean energy economy. The bill would authorize the center to use revenues to finance: (1) if the center so chooses, a "Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Institute," to serve as a joint venture among institutions of higher education in the State and to provide a focal point for research, education, and commercialization activities in the hydrogen fuel cell sector; (2) if the center so chooses, an "Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program," which would provide loans or loan guarantees to entrepreneurs from business sectors other than clean energy sectors to enroll in programs to foster knowledge and expertise of clean energy technology; (3) a loan program for clean energy companies, institutions, or nonprofit organizations; (4) a workforce development program to provide loans and loan guarantees to institutions of higher education, vocational-technical schools, or community-based organizations with existing or potential workforce development programs in clean energy; and (5) a "Pathways Out of Poverty Initiative" to provide loans and loan guarantees to clean energy companies, community-based nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, or labor organizations for training programs that lead to economic self-sufficiency.

Committee Categories

Shavonda Sumter (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee (on 08/10/2020)

Official Document