Legislation to renew billions of dollars in tax breaks for solar, wind, biomass and other renewable energy sources was approved yesterday by the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, by a vote of 25-12. The House proposal, which differs from the Senate version approved in early April, would extend a proposed new tax credit for ethanol fuels not produced from corn. This week, Congress approved a veto-proof version of the Farm Bill that provides $1.01 per gallon tax credit for ethanol produced from grass and waste materials.
The House Ways and Means Committee would give farmers and refiners three more years of subsidies beyond what is included in the Farm Bill. In all, the House committee measure would extend about $54 billion in expiring tax breaks for renewable energy sources, education and a number of business expenses including research and development. That's not pocket change for clean energy.
Though the House is taking up the legislation, the deliberate pace of the Congressional work to extend existing tax credits for renewable energy is worrying executives in the utility, finance, investment, and production sectors. This week Peter Darbee, the chairman and chief executive officer of PG&E Corporation, the parent of California's largest investor-owned utility, noted in an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that “failure by Congress to renew the credits could cost the United States 100,000 jobs and billions of dollars annually in new investments.”
He added, “the tremendous spurt of innovation and development we have seen in the renewable energy sector could be squelched just when the national economy, buffeted by the housing collapse and record oil prices, needs all the support it can get.”
"Here at the Apollo Alliance, we're closely watching the Congressional deliberations on the renewable energy tax credits, and we're involved in making the case for their extension. For next week's Apollo Feedback, I'd like to hear from our partners and supporters who are renewable energy developers, manufacturers, installers, and workers. What do the existing renewable tax credits mean to your business? If they are not extended, what are the consequences. "
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Commercial solar will die immediately without the investment tax credit. Period. The complexities of solar system installations and the extensive efforts on the part of the end-user require economics that make sense. Without the investment tax credit and utility rebates, the economics don't work.
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