Committee advances bill to add water director to Clean Sustainable Energy Authority advisory panel, funds loan and grant pools

Senate Bill 2188, which would add the director of the Department of Water Resources to the Clean Sustainable Energy Authority’s nonvoting technical advisory committee and increase funding for the authority, moved forward from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on a unanimous committee vote after a clerical amendment.

The bill would add the department’s director as a technical adviser and provide $30 million for grants and $100 million for additional loans for the Clean Sustainable Energy Authority, the program the Legislature created to fund innovative energy projects by grants or loans. The bill passed a committee amendment to correct a numeric typo and then received a due-pass recommendation and referral to the Appropriations Committee.

The authority administers grant and loan awards designed to move research-stage energy ideas to commercialization. Kelvin Hullett, chief business development officer at the Bank of North Dakota, described the authority’s multi-step review: technical review by independent reviewers, financial…