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U.S. May Add Solar, Wind Power Credits to Tax Bill, Group Says
2010-11-16 21:41:04.129 GMT
By Christopher Martin
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Legislation that provides U.S. tax
grants to developers of wind, solar and geothermal energy
projects may be included in a bill to extend income tax relief
from the Bush administration that expires this year, according
to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
The incentives, also known as the 1603 Treasury Grant
Program, helped developers of renewable energy such as First
Solar Inc. and SunPower Corp. finance projects with lump-sum
payments in lieu of credits spread over the life of the
projects.
The so-called tax-equity market, where banks buy and sell
credits generated by solar and wind projects, dried up when the
recession turned corporate profits into losses, Rhone Resch,
president of the Washington-based solar industry group, said
today on a conference call. The program, which expires at the
end of the year, must be extended by two years to prevent losses
in an industry that's doubled employment to almost 100,000 in
2010, he said.
"The Treasury grant program was critical to support that
development," Resch said. The grant program has cost taxpayers
about $5 million more than the original tax-credit program,
assisting project investments of about $15 billion. A two-year
extension of the tax grants would add 65,000 jobs and 5,100
megawatts of solar energy, he said.
Scott Brown, chief executive officer of New Energy Capital
Corp., also expects Congress will include extenders for expiring
tax credits during the lame-duck session.
"It is very likely that there will be an extenders package
in any tax bill," Brown said in an e-mail. "The bio-diesel tax
credit and the 1603 grant program have a very good shot at being
included."
For Related News and Information:
Solar trade: TNI SOLAR TRD <GO>
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
Top Environment stories: GREEN <GO>
--With assistance from Jim Efstathiou Jr. in New York.
Editors: Will Wade, John Lear
To contact the reporter on this story:
Christopher Martin in New York at 212-617-5198 or
cmartin11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or landberg@bloomberg.net
