Sixteen companies and organizations in Maine are receiving a total of nearly $9 million in energy efficiency grants from Maine Public Utilities Commission’s Efficiency Maine Program.
The $8.9 million comes from Maine’s Industrial Grant Program, funded by federal stimulus money and revenue from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon auctions, according to a press release from Gov. John Baldacci’s office. The grants are expected to leverage more than $81 million in private investments and could create nearly 1,000 jobs.
The largest grant was awarded to Verso Paper’s mill in Bucksport, which received $2 million to help fund a $45.9 million investment in biomass boilers, according to the Bangor Daily News. The Jackson Laboratory received $1 million to switch from an oil- to biomass-based heating system, and the Maine Renewable Energy Consortium also received $1 million for a biomass energy production plant in South Portland, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Grant recipients:
- Verso Paper Corp., Bucksport: $2 million
- The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor: $1 million
- Maine Renewable Energy Consortium, South Portland: $1 million
- Tex Tech Industries, Monmouth: $746,776
- Prime Tanning Co., Hartland: $667,500
- Fairchild Semiconductor, South Portland: $537,000
- Bowdoin College, Brunswick: $400,000
- Fraser Paper, Madawaska: $393,008
- Old Town Fuel and Fiber, Old Town: $377,000
- Lincoln Paper and Tissue, Lincoln: $375,000
- Madison Paper, Madison: $357,000
- NewPage Corp., Rumford: $300,000
- Katahdin Paper Co., Millinocket: $235,200
- Fraser Timber, Ashland: $227,500
- Fraser Paper, Madawaska: $198,240
- Johnson Outdoors Watercraft Inc., Old Town: $113,000
