Obama’s Budget Would Extend Treasury Grants for Wind, Solar

President Barack Obama’s proposed budget would renew and extend a subsidy for renewable-energy projects that helps pay for as much as 30 percent of development costs, according to a solar lobbying group.

The 2013 budget released today would restore U.S. Treasury Department grants that expired in December, a benefit that may add as many as 37,000 solar jobs, Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement today.

The grants, known as the 1603 program, were enacted in 2009 to encourage investors to back renewable-energy projects. It’s helped develop more than $24 billion worth of renewable energy resources, the Washington-based lobbying group said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net.