Nov. 16--State officials are in the final stages of reviewing renewable energy projects eligible for $100 million in state funding and expect to make final recommendations to a legislative committee Dec. 7, state energy director Steve Haagenson told a state energy task force Nov. 10.

If the projects recommended by the Alaska Energy Authority, Haagenson's group, are followed by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, which has authority to approve them, the $100 million will most likely be dispersed in the first quarter of 2009, according to Karsten Rodvick, spokesman for the AEA.

House Bill 162, passed by the Legislature in the 2008 session, set up a $250 million state renewable energy grant program, with the current $100 million funding as the first year increment, and requires the audit committee to approve the first round of renewable energy projects. Subsequent rounds of funding must be approved by the entire Legislature.

Haagenson told the Alaska Renewable Energy Task Force that 112 proposals were received at the Oct. 8 deadline for a "round one" solicitation for projects that were well defined and more or less ready for final engineering or construction.

About 12 applicants were eliminated, leaving about 100 for the final round of scrutiny by the AEA, Haagenson said.

Only part of those will make the final cut to be recommended by the AEA because the amount of money being requested is over four times the $100 million being offered. All of the final applications will be given to the legislative committee, but it's likely the legislators will follow the agency's recommendations in the final approvals.

Meanwhile, a second set of project applications were also solicited in a "round two," for projects that needed more time for definition and development. The deadline for those was Nov. 10.

By the end of the day, 110 applications had been received by the AEA, some that involved more than one renewable energy project, according to Rodvick.

Round two projects will undergo the same screening as round one projects, but only $50 million is likely to be available under House Bill 162 and even that must be appropriated by legislators next spring as part of the fiscal year 2010 state budget.

Meanwhile, the energy agency is still planning an early December rollout for a statewide energy plan. Haagenson told the renewable energy task force Nov. 10 that a core part of the energy plan will be community plans with a catalog of options available to local residents for reducing fuel use along with an estimated cost of implementing each option.