Suppliers in the renewable-energy industry have tried just about everything to pass a law to renew an important investment tax credit that is set to expire at the end of this year.
On Thursday, Sens. Mary Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Senator John Ensign (R-Nev.) introduced a bill that would extend that credit and provide incentives for energy-efficiency measures.
The Clean Energy Tax Stimulus Act of 2008 ( click here for PDF) extends the investment tax credit for eight more years for businesses.
Consumers would have the existing 30 percent federal tax credit on renewable energy projects, such as solar panels, extended another year and the $2,000 cap removed.
The bill doesn't detail how the tax credits would be paid for, which is a crucial question.
Previous proposals attempted to pay for the renewed tax credit by rescinding existing tax breaks on oil companies. Those proposals were defeated in the Senate and were threatened by a White House veto at the end of last year.
For several months, executives in the solar and wind industries have been complaining that the lack of policy certainty is stalling the U.S. clean energy industry. In particular, large industrial investments, such as utility-scale wind and solar plants, are being pushed back or scrapped, according to people in the industry.
The Solar Energy Industries Association put out a statement on Thursday applauding the move.
Heavy hitters in the renewable-energy business have scheduled a press conference on Tuesday to publicly lobby for long-sought policies, arguing that the industry and U.S. competitiveness are at risk.
The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) organized the press conference, which will include well-known energy investors and business people from General Electric, Credit Suisse, Google, and clean-tech venture capital firm Nth Power. It will be held at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC), which is hosted by the U.S. government.
The renewable-energy industry has been thwarted at least two times in efforts to renew an existing federal tax credit for renewable-energy projects that is set to expire at the end of 2008. Projects include solar energy, wind, biofuels, and other renewable sources.
And at this point, industrialists appear to be getting downright irate over the prospect of that tax credit lapsing.
Why? Because they are losing money.
ACORE sent a letter to Congress, signed by 500 "industry leaders," calculating that 42 gigawatts of renewable-energy projects are in jeopardy because of the uncertainty around the investment tax credit and another production tax credit. That's enough power for 16 million homes.
If the industry isn't developed, "green collar" jobs will go to other countries, and American consumers may end up importing more renewable-energy products than they already do, ACORE argues.
Called in to make a public case for renewing the investment tax credit and production tax credit at the press conference are: Credit Suisse Vice Chairman John Cavalier; energy venture capitalist Nancy Floyd from Nth Power; the head of GE's renewable-energy financing division, Kevin Walsh; former California Energy Commissioner John Geesman; and Dan Reicher, director of climate change and energy initiatives at Google.org, who is also co-chair of ACORE.
But for all the high-powered pressure, prospects are not looking very good.
The House earlier this month passed another bill which, like previous attempts, proposes paying for the tax credit by closing an existing tax incentive on oil and gas companies. The Senate has twice failed to pass the measure, and President Bush threatened to veto such a measure late last year.
Even the head of the Solar Energy Industry Association of America, Rhone Resch, predicted that paying for tax incentives by trying to pull back oil company tax breaks is unlikely to succeed.
In an interview with VentureBeat, Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen called the policy uncertainty "really embarrassing."
At an investor conference last month, Resch said that the solar industry is trying to create a coalition of utilities, homebuilders, and environmentalists to get a long-term set of financial rules in place. Worst case scenario is to try to get a one-year extension at the end of this year, he said.
Meanwhile, President Bush is scheduled to address WIREC conference attendees on Wednesday morning.
The president signed an energy bill with large incentives for the production of biofuels, but at this point it's unlikely he'll have good news for renewable-power backers.
An economic stimulus plan passed the Senate on Thursday without extending an important tax credit for the solar and wind industries.
Renewable energy companies and advocates were bitterly disappointed late last year with the passage of the Energy Act, which did not extend an investment tax credit. It would have been funded by repealing an existing tax break to oil companies.
Right now, renewable energy projects receive a federal tax credit once they are completed, but that provision runs out at the end of 2008.
On Thursday, the Senate again left out the tax credit extension, which solar and wind business people say is important to the stability and growth of the renewable energy industry.
"It is crucial for Congress to return to work to pass an eight-year investment tax credit for America's solar energy industry. Investing in America's solar future costs little and will keep the power on in homes and businesses in all 50 states," Rhone Resche, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement.
The SEIA said that it will pursue other opportunities to extend the tax credit this year.
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