Policy

Among amendments added to the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) of 2009, H.R. 2454, yesterday is important legislation for the solar power industry.  Yesterday’s votes at the House Energy and Commerce Committee markup of global warming and energy legislation included an amendment passed which ”gives states the ability to adopt 'feed-in tariffs' for renewables.”  This amendment was added by Kathy Castor (D-Fla.).  Florida is ahead of the curve with its adoption of a feed-in tariff program in Gainesville, through the Gainesville Regional Utilities, known as GRU.  GRU is the 5th largest municipal electric utility in Florida.

ACES, a combined energy and climate bill, was released by Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in May.  A summary of the legislation from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce web site can be found here.

The Wikipedia entry on Feed-In Tariffs gives this definition “an incentive structure to encourage the adoption of renewable energy through government legislation. The regional or national electricity utilities are obligated to buy renewable electricity (electricity generated from renewable sources, such as solar photovoltaics, wind power, biomass, hydropower and geothermal power) at above-market rates set by the government.”

More from Wikipedia, “The German federally managed program that has proven to be the world's most effective practice for boosting adoption of renewable energy technologies. Feed-In Tariffs (REFIT) have been associated with a large growth in solar power in Spain, Germany and wind power in Denmark. These countries now boast the supply of 9%, 5% and 20% of their electricity respectively. These systems involve fixed payments that are guaranteed in the long term; 20 years in the cases of Spain and Germany.”

For points of view on the ACES, here are a few resources:

Solar Energy Industries Association Improvements to the ACES, pdf summary.

Alliance to Save Energy, offers an energy efficiency perspective. From their website, “This legislation represents our first real chance for a national carbon reduction plan in the United States.”

IEEE, the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology, is conducting its first ever Energy Fly-In to Washington, DC June 15-16.  A review of their energy policy’s can be found here.  From their website, “Energy underlies and connects three converging challenges that face the United States in the early 21st century: security, prosperity, and the environment.  To address these issues, President Barack Obama and Congress have vowed to make energy issues a priority this year.”

Related information:
Tracking of the bill can be found at OpenCongress.org.

Testimony on the bill can be found at the National Resources Defense Fund site.

Projected Senate and House Votes on 2009 Climate Legislation information can be found on E2.org site.

Source: WASHINGTON (Reuters) Feb. 12 For Full Story: U.S. economic stimulus to boost renewable energy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After weeks of debate, Democratic leaders in House of Representatives and the Senate have reached an agreement on an economic stimulus package that would pump billions of dollars into "smart grid" projects and renewable energy.

The $789 billion package, which now must be approved by both chambers, contains $11 billion for modernizing the U.S. electricity grid and developing so-called smart grids. 

Smart grids utilize technology to create more efficient and less costly methods of moving electricity.

Aimed at boosting the nation's economy and creating jobs, the legislation also provides $6 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects such as wind or solar energy development.

Solar industry representatives said the stimulus bill would add 67,000 jobs to the sector in 2009 and a total of 119,000 jobs over the next two years.

"The solar provisions in the bill will allow us to begin hiring, create growth opportunities for small businesses throughout the country and keep the economic engine going," Solar Energy Industries Association President Rhone Resch said in a statement. 

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama stressed the importance of providing tax breaks and loan guarantees for firms that produce solar and wind energy.

From New York Times Op Ed Columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, this weekend came his comparison to energy policy creation after the '73 oil embargo between Denmark and the U.S, and the results of each countries policies:

Frankly, when you compare how America has responded to the 1973 oil shock and how Denmark has responded, we look pathetic.

“I have observed that in all other countries, including in America, people are complaining about how prices of [gasoline] are going up,” Denmark’s prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told me. “The cure is not to reduce the price, but, on the contrary, to raise it even higher to break our addiction to oil. We are going to introduce a new tax reform in the direction of even higher taxation on energy and the revenue generated on that will be used to cut taxes on personal income — so we will improve incentives to work and improve incentives to save energy and develop renewable energy.”

Because it was smart taxes and incentives that spurred Danish energy companies to innovate, Ditlev Engel, the president of Vestas — Denmark’s and the world’s biggest wind turbine company — told me that he simply can’t understand how the U.S. Congress could have just failed to extend the production tax credits for wind development in America.

Why should you care?

“We’ve had 35 new competitors coming out of China in the last 18 months,” said Engel, “and not one out of the U.S.”

For the complete article, published August 9, click here.

This week we saw the debate over solar tax credits bring into focus support of off shore drilling for oil versus support of clean energy technologies.

But will offshore drilling really bring the price of gas down? Time Magazine weighed in on this question in its piece, "Will More Drilling Mean Cheaper Gas?"

"Even if tomorrow we opened up every square mile of the outer continental shelf to offshore rigs, even if we drilled the entire state of Alaska and pulled new refineries out of thin air, the impact on gas prices would be minimal and delayed at best. A 2004 study by the government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) found that drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) would trim the price of gas by 3.5 cents a gallon by 2027. (If oil prices continue to skyrocket, the savings would be greater, but not by much.) Opening up offshore areas to oil exploration — currently all coastal areas save a section of the Gulf of Mexico are off-limits, thanks to a congressional ban enacted in 1982 and supplemented by an executive order from the first President Bush — might cut the price of gas by 3 to 4 cents a gallon at most, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. And the relief at the pump, such as it is, wouldn't be immediate — it would take several years, at least, for the oil to begin to flow, which is time enough for increased demand from China, India and the rest of the world to outpace those relatively meager savings. "Right now the price of oil is set on the global market," says Kevin Lindemer, executive managing director of the energy markets group for the research firm Global Insight. President Bush's move "would not have an impact."

The reason is simple: the U.S. has an estimated 3% of global petroleum reserves but consumes 24% of the world's oil.

Breaking news from SEIA, Wednesday, July 30:

Solar Energy Industries Association president Rhone Resch released the following statement after the Senate failed to pass a cloture motion on S. 3335, the Jobs, Energy, Families and Disaster Relief Act, which included provisions to extend the solar investment tax credit for eight years. The motion failed by a vote of 51 to 43, unable to gain the support of 60 senators needed for passage.

"For the eighth time since June 2007, the Senate was unable to reach a bipartisan compromise to extend solar tax credits which are vital to the solar industry and our economy. Time is running out to extend the solar tax credits and without passage in the immediate future, tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars will be lost in new solar investment. Already companies are putting projects on hold and preparing to send thousands of jobs overseas – real jobs that would otherwise be filled by American workers. Failure to extend the solar tax credits is a severe blow to an industry that has proven to be an economic engine for the U.S. at a time when we need it most.

"The Senate now has little time left this year to extend these tax credits. I strongly urge the Senate to figure out a bipartisan compromise and immediately extend the solar tax credit when they return from their August recess."

Today from Renewable Energy World:

From Solar Nation today… Solar Investment Tax Credit Bill Introduced by Senate Finance Committee …and this one might actually pass!

As the train that will carry senators and representatives home for the summer vac. gets ready to chug out of Union Station, we think there may be light at the end of the railroad tunnel; we just hope we get there before the Government closes for business.

Senator Baucus, Chair of the Finance Committee, and Senator Reid, Majority Leader, have introduced a Senate version of the storied clean energy investment tax credit bill. It's S3335, the Jobs, Energy, Families and Disaster Relief Act of 2008. It contains the extensions to clean energy investment tax credits (ITC) that we've been promoting for so long, and it could come up for a vote as early as Tuesday July 29th.

What's different this time, that might lead to a bill actually making it through both chambers? Well, on this occasion the document is coming from the Senate with funding provisions attached–the very issue that senators have objected to, for over a year now. This means that a lot of bipartisan shaping of the bill has been going on, to either remove provisions that senators disliked or add provisions that would switch their votes to 'yea' (such as tax relief for those affected by natural disasters this year). But most importantly to the House, it ensures that the clean energy tax credits can be paid for without adding to the deficit. And it means that:
-commercial and residential solar 30% ITCs will be extended for 8 years
-the residential cap on the ITC will be doubled to $4000
-corporate and individual taxpayers can claim the ITC against the AMT
-investor-owned utilities can claim the ITC directly

It sounds like there's a good faith effort, this time, to provide sufficient 'feel-good' measures all around to put the dreaded filibuster to bed. We sure hope so. But to make sure, can you hit your senators one more time with an e-mail, reminding them how important this bill is to the future of solar power in America?

To take action, click here.

News on the solar power front likely to give a statewide boost to the installation of solar panels to generate electricity comes in from the Los Angeles Times today. Reporter, Margot Roosevelt, reports on the progressive new law in "California adopts innovative solar loan law."

Left-leaning Berkeley and right-leaning Palm Desert are unlikely bedfellows, but the two cities were twin forces behind California's innovative solar and energy efficiency financing law enacted Monday.

The law, sponsored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D- Van Nuys), allows cities and counties to make low-interest loans to homeowners and businesses to install solar panels, high-efficiency air conditioners and other improvements to save energy. Participants can pay back the loans as part of their property taxes. If they move, the improvements and loan balance are transferred to the next owner.

The financing scheme, if adopted by cities, is likely to give a statewide boost to the installation of solar panels to generate electricity. Solar power systems can cost between $15,000 and $30,000–more than many homeowners can afford, although state rebates cover much of the cost. But with the loans, and the guarantee that the investment will not be lost when people sell their homes, the risk is dramatically reduced.

For the complete story, click here.

From MSNBC this week, "Solar power companies look abroad as sun sets on tax credits" written by Celia Lamb of the Sacramento Business Journal, looks at the solar industry focused on finishing projects by end of the year and looking to a last minute extension of the Federal Incentive Tax Credits.

Solar power companies are racing to finish projects and are looking to overseas markets as the deadline for federal solar-power tax credits draws closer.

When the tax credits expire Dec. 31, small solar power installation companies could be hit the hardest because they depend on new business in their local markets. But even large companies are scrambling to finish as many projects as they can this year.

“We’re horrified,” said Sue Kateley, executive director of the California Solar Energy Industries Association. “I’ve stopped betting on it.”

But some industry executives are counting on the extension.

“We believe Congress will do the right thing and extend the tax credit,” said Phil Rettger, executive vice president of Hayward-based OptiSolar Inc., which is building a solar-panel manufacturing plant in McClellan Park. “There’s a history of waiting until the last minute and then extending the tax credit.”

For the full story, click here.