The California Energy Commission (CEC) and state Treasurer’s Office announced Tuesday they have entered a first-of-its-kind interagency agreement to allow the state to offer financing programs for three alternative fuel and transportation projects. Funding is coming from the CEC’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.

Financing efforts for three specific projects identified by the CEC will be managed by California’s Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority and overseen by the Treasurer’s Office.

CEC Vice Chairman James Boyd said he hoped the new agreement will allow people to be “put back to work” while also moving the state’s alternative transportation efforts forward. He said the interagency agreement is the result of efforts between the two state agencies and parts of the private sector. Boyd called the agreement “a culmination of a significant effort.”

As a result of the financing mechanism now in place, the CEC soon will solicit qualified projects in what its spokesperson called three distinct areas:

The CEC promotes the development and deployment of alternative and renewable fuels and vehicles in the state as part of the statewide effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce petroleum dependency, a CEC spokesperson said. In this regard, the state agency that is also charged with siting new electric generation plants has an annual budget of more than $100 million for the alternative fuels/vehicles effort.

State Treasurer Bill Lockyer called the new agreement “an important step toward growing advanced transportation technologies in California.”

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