Biomass Feasibility Study Grant
Application process is closed. Porter Bench received $300,000, NorthWestern Energy received $125,000, and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation was provided $50,000 for biomass energy work.
The Montana Department of Commerce has $475,000 in grants available for biomass energy feasibility studies as part of Montana Reinvestment Act (House Bill 645) passed by the 61st Legislature. The Montana Reinvestment Act implements the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. The department is providing grant funds to interested applicants for the preparation of biomass feasibility studies. The qualified applicant, if awarded a grant, will prepare a feasibility study focused on assessing the potential for the development of one or more, woody biomass generation plants in Montana.
The applicants can be private companies or consulting firms with experience developing biomass energy generation plants. The State of Montana is looking to the western part of the state as a potential location for private sector driven development of woody biomass energy generation plants. This will be a complement to ongoing projects that use alternative energy sources for power generation.
Application Process
The Energy Promotion and Development Division is the primary point of contact for initiating a grant application and working through the process leading to a grant award. The application should follow the guideline format and provide responses to the categories of information requested below.
The application should be submitted with a cover letter on company letterhead and signed by an authorized company official. Grant awards will be made up to $475,000. Applications were due July 31, 2009.
Please make inquiries and submit applications to:
Biomass Energy Feasibility Study
Attn: Mr. Tom Kaiserski
Energy Promotion and Development Division
Montana Department of Commerce
P.O. Box 200505
Helena, MT. 59620-0505
Contact Information:
Tom Kaiserski
Energy Promotion and Development Division
(406) 841- 2034
tkaiserski@mt.gov
Biomass Application Guidelines and Form (Adobe Acrobat PDF Form)
Reporting Process
All grant recipients will be required to submit a Monthly Recovery Funds Report by the first Friday of each month during the term of the contract agreement.
The Grantee must report, at a minimum, for itself and all contractors, subcontractors, and subrecipient entities, the following information:
(1) The dollar amount of all contractor invoices;
(2) The supplies delivered and the services performed;
(3) An assessment of the completion status of the work;
(4) An estimate of the number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained as a result of the Recovery funds:
(i) "Jobs created" means the cumulative new positions created and filled, or previously existing unfilled positions that are filled, for each project, as a running total over the life of the project, expressed as "full time equivalent" (FTE), calculated cumulatively as all hours worked (jobs created cumulative work hours) divided by the total number of hours in a full time schedule, as defined by the Grantee.
(ii) "Jobs retained" means the cumulative previously existing filled positions that are saved/retained for each project, as a running total over the life of the project, expressed as FTE, calculated cumulatively as all hours worked (jobs saved cumulative work hours) divided by the total number of hours in a full time schedule, as defined by the Grantee.
(iii) The Grantee must report the FTE (job counts should be converted to full-time equivalents), cumulative work hours, and total number of hours in a full time schedule, as defined by the Grantee, for both jobs created and retained.
(iv) Temporary construction jobs should also be converted to annualized full-time equivalents. For example, 20 full-time jobs on a three-month project count as 5 full-time equivalent annualized jobs; and
(5) Name and physical location of all contractors, subcontractors, and subrecipient entities engaged in any of the activities described in Section 6 SCOPE OF WORK.
