Hinchey, right, and Assemblyman Kevin Cahill

KINGSTON – An additional $2.25 million in federal money has been secured to support The Solar Energy Consortium’s efforts in the Hudson Valley.

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, who spearheaded the solar energy efforts in the region, announced that at a Hudson Valley Solar Energy Summit held in Kingston.

The new money now brings to close to $30 million, the amount he has secured for The Solar Energy Consortium.

According to Hinchey the efforts of TSEC have already brought in around 200 jobs and there is a high likelihood that number will increase significantly over the next few years.

“You need money to bring in corporations and you need money to stimulate and develop new technology,” said Hinchey. “The money is being used to generate new technology, new ideas, new economic stimulation, and most importantly new jobs for the people here.”

The ultimate goal of the money being invested into TSEC is to make New York State a world-wide competitor in solar energy technology.

“Our chances of being highly competitive and successfully competitive with other states in the United States and other countries around the world is very, very high,”

Hinchey spoke of efforts to attract new companies to the former IBM plant dubbed Tech City. “We’re just about as far advanced as almost anybody is and the Tech City operation has been the main ingredient for that. The funding that we’ve been able to obtain to strengthen Tech City focus its attention and to focus that attention in a productive way on other corporations to attract them and bring them in has already been successful.”