The U.S. Depts. of Treasury and Energy have announced a program to award $2.3 billion in tax credits to manufacturers of advanced, clean energy equipment. Qualifying manufacturers will produce electric cars; electric grids to support the transmission of renewable energy; energy conservation technologies; solar, wind and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, micro-turbines and batteries; and equipment to capture and sequester carbon dioxide or reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created the new tax credit program by authorizing the U.S. Treasury to provide developers with an investment tax credit of 30% for facilities that manufacture particular types of energy equipment. The manufacturing tax credit is capped at $2.3 billion and credits are available for two years or until the cap is reached.

Companies can file applications for the first round of credit awards through October 16, 2009 and can expect to learn whether their applications are successful by January 15, 2010.