Part II of Tax Credit Extension Study Gets Legislators’ Attention

September 19, 2008

The conclusions of a six-month-old report on the damage to the PV and wind industries expected to be caused by expiration of tax credits in 2009 have recently been updated to show the other side of the coin.

The initial study, Economic Impacts of the Tax Credit Expiration, was commissioned by the American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Research and Education Foundation, and performed by Navigant Consulting of Burlington, MA.  In summary, the study found that expiration of the federal production tax credit (PTC) for wind energy and the federal investment tax credit for PV could lead to some 116,000 lost job opportunities and $19 billion in lost investment in 2009.  These figures have been widely publicized since the report’s publication, and have been used by some Congressional legislators to gather support for their repeated attempts to extend the tax credits into 2009 and beyond.

Both types of tax credit are intended to act as incentives: in the case of the PTC for developers to create large-scale facilities such as wind and ocean energy farms, and in the case of the ITC for businesses and individuals to invest in solar power, energy efficiency, etc. (more…)

When is an Energy Bill not an Energy Bill?

September 12, 2008

when it’s election year theatrics, that’s when.

For those of us with short memories, here’s a reminder of a time—not so very long ago—when legislators introduced energy bills with the actual idea of passing them and implementing good policy.  Perhaps they tried too hard and too many times last year and this, so that—as when you bang your head against a wall over a long period of time—it felt good just to stop.

And what a simple thing it was, that they were trying to do: extend and improve the investment tax credits (ITC) that were successful in helping ordinary people get their power from the sun instead of from coal and gas.  Many of them in Congress tried, eight or more times over twelve to eighteen months, just to keep a good idea going.  Many others blocked the bills, claiming that if these credits led to significant savings then there was no need to fund them through taxes;  some of them actually meant it.  (more…)

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