[Vision2020] Fwd: Congress Fiddles, Renewable Energy Hits Speed Bump

[Tom Trail]

>V


Visionaries  An interesting review of tax credits for wind and solar power.

Tom Trail


>Western Progress News Brief
>May 19, 2008
>
>
>Congress Fiddles, Renewable Energy Hits Speed Bump
>
>This week the 
><http://cts.vresp.com/c/?WesternProgress/eb39645c40/4a935a07fa/9c0725b4c1>Energy 
>Department said that by the year 2030, wind power could supply 20 
>percent of the nation's electricity. But renewable energy's recent 
>momentum could slam to a halt if Congress doesn't extend federal tax 
>credits for wind and solar energy development before 
><http://cts.vresp.com/c/?WesternProgress/eb39645c40/4a935a07fa/eb75e26357>they 
>expire at year's end.
>
>Congress failed to do so in 2007, disagreeing over how to pay for 
>the subsidies,  and has dragged its feet on the measure ever since. 
>Yetlawmakers found common ground in granting a $17 billion tax break 
>over the next five years to the oil and gas industry, which is 
>reaping windfall profits.
>
>Without a continued stimulus for project development both wind and 
>solar industries expect significantdrops in production.With record 
>oil prices and a staggering economy sending a clear message that the 
>U.S. needs to change direction on energy, this legislative stall is 
>indefensible.
>
>Even though the 
><http://cts.vresp.com/c/?WesternProgress/eb39645c40/4a935a07fa/202eabc7cb>Senate 
>last month passedthe comprehensive 
><http://cts.vresp.com/c/?WesternProgress/eb39645c40/4a935a07fa/036a225f88>Clean 
>Energy Tax Stimulus Act that extends the tax credits through 
>2016,whichthe House is expected to approve eventually,many renewable 
>energy investors and industry executives are erring on the side of 
>caution by 
><http://cts.vresp.com/c/?WesternProgress/eb39645c40/4a935a07fa/30cb84b94e>postponing 
>future projects. In Gila, Arizona, for example,construction of a $1 
>billion solar plant that would be the state's largest is on hold 
>until the stimulus is secured. AndSunEdison in Beltsville, Maryland 
>is one of several solar companies advised by banks to postpone any 
>projects that would not be finished this year unless the credit is 
>extended.
>
>Subsidies for wind and solar date back three decades, and the 
>renewable energy industry is particularly sensitive to keeping the 
>credits in place. Tax credits for the wind industry have lapsed 
>three times in the past decade -- 1999, 2001 and 2003 - which 
>resulted in declines of 93, 73 and 77 percent, respectively, in new 
>installed wind capacity.
>
>This type of start-and-stop growth ended in 2005 with three 
>consecutive tax credit extensions that helped bring about 
>unparalleled expansion of the wind and solar sectors. Last year, the 
>wind power industry was responsible for adding almost one-third of 
>the total new U.S. power capacity and injecting $9 billion into the 
>national economy. Current employment in wind power has topped 20,000.
>
>Keeping pace but on a smaller scale, the solar industry grew by 43 
>percent and, provided the tax incentive is extended, is planning at 
>least eight new solar projects equivalent to six coal-fired power 
>plants.
>
>"The extension of the tax credit," said 
><http://cts.vresp.com/c/?WesternProgress/eb39645c40/4a935a07fa/659a873a9d>American 
>Wind Energy Association director Randall Swisher, "is urgently 
>needed to protect tens of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs and 
>create tens of thousands more, and to keep investment flowing into 
>one of the fastest-growing and brightest sectors of our economy: 
>renewable electricity."


-- 
Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
1375 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel:  (208) 882-6077
Fax:  (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail at moscow.com
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