Oregon Public Broadcasting

The state Department of Energy released a study Tuesday supportive of its Energy Tax Credit programs.

The report found business and residential tax credits produced more than $600 million in investments and wages.

The program cost the state less than that, about $200 million.

Steven Glover helped direct the study.

He says the report shows the trade-off was worth it.

Steven Glover: “Government programs and households and businesses could have spent this money on other things as they normally do. This instead went to purchasing equipment, or hiring contractors, and installing energy-efficiency equipment or renewable energy equipment.”

Glover works for the independent firm ECONorthwest.

The state paid for the study as part of a regular review.

The report says the more than 17-hundred jobs were created by the program.