Georgia Environmental Finance Authority describes 'state infrastructure bank' role, highlights $249 million DOE grid resilience grant

Hunter Hill of the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority told the House Natural Resources & Environment Committee that GEFA functions as a state infrastructure bank, providing loans and technical assistance to local governments for water and wastewater upgrades, energy projects and resilience programs.

Hill described GEFA's primary functions: water and wastewater financing (including federally funded programs with state match for disadvantaged communities), energy programs (state energy program implementation, solar resiliency technical assistance, building-operator training), and emergency energy planning (the agency serves ESF-12 in the state operations center during disasters). He said GEFA provides below-market loans, often with quick turnaround and, in many cases, no local match, and that the Georgia Fund (state money) is used for projects such as economic development that federal programs do not finance.

Hill highlighted a Department of Energy award related to grid resilience and innovation. He said GEFA and utility partners won a DOE grant of about $249 million, a 50-50 cost-share partnership with Oglethorpe Power and Georgia Transmission that would support grid resiliency projects in parts of the state, particularly in disadvantaged census tracts in the southwest. The project aims to improve transmission redundancy and reduce outage impacts in vulnerable communities, Hill said.

On water financing, Hill said GEFA manages multiple funds to help disadvantaged and small communities upgrade drinking water and sewer systems, and that the agency maintains a pipeline of projects for committee review. He also described weatherization and homeowner energy rebate pilots GEFA is implementing with federal funds.

Members were referred to GEFA materials in the committee packet and told the agency will return with more detail as requested.