A new grant program gives the city green to go green.

The City of Santa Clarita has been awarded $4,620,000 in funding for innovative environmental technologies.

The grant comes as part of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Transit Investments in Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER).
Santa Clarita received the fifth largest amount awarded through the program, which distributed $100 million in funding among 43 transit agencies selected nationwide.
The TIGGER competitive grant program awarded funding to select transit agencies for pursuing cutting-edge environmental technologies to help reduce global warming, lessen America’s dependence on oil and create green jobs.
The funding awarded to the city will add canopies topped with photovoltaic modules to its Transit Maintenance Facility (TMF), which will generate electricity to offset electric power consumed at the site.
The advanced canopies will also reduce costs by providing shade for full-size inter-city and commuter buses.
“The City of Santa Clarita is one of only four transit agencies in California selected to receive TIGGER funding and the investment will allow the city to take its longtime commitment to environmental awareness to an entirely new level,” said Mayor Frank Ferry. Once installed, canopies and carports with photovoltaic modules will generate 95 percent of the electricity required to power the entire Transit Maintenance Facility, while further reducing operating and maintenance costs by providing shade for the City’s bus fleet.”
The TIGGER funding is the City’s first competitive grant awarded though the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The $4,620,000 awarded is the full amount requested by the city in its winning proposal submitted to the Federal Transit Administration for funding.
Winning transit agencies proposals were selected based on a project’s ability to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and also to provide a return on the investment.
Other selection criteria included readiness to implement, applicant capacity, degree of innovation and national applicability.