There’s finally some positive news for the future of Halifax Regional Municipality’s Solar City project.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund has approved funding for the HRM project that encourages residential homeowners to install solar panels.

“That is just tremendously exciting news,” Coun. Barry Dalrymple (Waverley- Fall River – Beaver Bank) told News 95.7 Monday.

More than 1,600 people signed up for the program over a three week period in 2010, three times the number of participants the city was looking for, although the pilot could only accommodate up to 1,000 participants.

HRM found out Friday that FCM is authorizing a $545,000 grant, plus a $5.4 million low-interest loan.

The money is what the municipality had asked for in its first application for funding which was turned down. FCM said that request did not fit with in the organization’s parameters.

Council almost abandoned the project in July, but postponed the motion until FCM had made its final ruling.

“A motion actually came to council to defeat Solar City and let it go because many of our departments and people involved no longer believed we’d get the funding,” said Dalrymple, chair of council’s environment and sustainability committee.

The committee will receive an update Thursday on how the project will move forward.