President Bill Perry said availability of funds and interest rates are two factors contributing to the Renewable Energy Center being put on hold.

He said the credit market has tightened up considerably, affecting the affordability of the center.

“It’s been within just the past few weeks that the credit market’s changed dramatically,” he said.

Perry announced Tuesday the Renewable Energy Center project has been put on hold pending further analysis.

Items related to Eastern’s proposed Renewable Energy Center were pulled from the Board of Trustees’ agenda for today’s meeting.

Perry said the project requires a financial analysis, and there would not have been sufficient time before the board meeting to complete the analysis.

He said the size of the project, as in the total dollar amount of the project, was linked to the economy’s effects.

“Due to the complexity of all that and the size of the project, we needed more time do the kind of analysis that we needed to do before bringing it to the board,” Perry said.

He said there were a number of issues the university would be looking at.

“Downstream we can talk more about that,” Perry said.

At the same time as the university is conducting the financial analysis, Perry said he wants to consult with the community.

“Our plan is to start that the week after Thanksgiving, which means we have to get some notices out early next week,” he said.

Perry said he would be working with Jill Nilsen, vice president for external relations, on pulling the advisory committee together and moving forward with discussions.

“The open forums brought to light many important issues from the residents who live near the site,” Perry said.

He said he wants to hear those concerns.

Perry said he will wait and see what the financial analysis and the consultation yields before making a timeline.

“I think our financial analysis could be completed sometime in December,” Perry said. “Of course the credit markets are going to continue to move so it will be a moving target, but I believe we can have the analysis complete by December.”

He said he would like to have several meetings with the advisory committee and have all that input by the end of January.

“I would want to take everything in consideration and then publicly state then where we’re going with this project,” he said.

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.