Clean Energy Provisions Included in Stimulus Bill

On Tuesday, February 10, the Senate voted 61-37 to approve passage of its $838 billion version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The bill includes provisions for clean energy investments to help create jobs, hedge rising energy costs, and increase the nation's supply of domestically produced, clean energy.

One of the major provisions included in the bill has to do with the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for renewable energy technologies. The PTC provides a 1.9¢ per kilowatt hour (kWh) credit for the first ten years of operation for a qualifying renewable energy facility. In the past the PTC has experienced intermittent extensions, and in years following its expiration, renewable energy development decreased dramatically. A longer-term extension of the PTC has been suggested by groups ranging from the Union of Concerned Scientists to then-candidate Obama's presidential campaign as a way to drive investment and development of renewable energy. The inclusion of this provision, which would extend the PTC through 2012, represents an important step towards increasing the nation's use of renewable energy.

Other significant clean energy provisions include a temporary option for utility-scale renewable energy technologies to utilize the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which would help them to overcome financing difficulties resulting from current market conditions; Clean Renewable Energy Bonds to provide additional financing for projects; an increase in the credit available to energy-efficient homes; removal of the cap on the credit for residential renewable energy systems; and investments in alternative-fuel vehicles and pumps.

You can read more about the clean energy provisions included in the ARRA on the website of Sen. Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Committee of Finance, here.

 

 

PERSONALLY SPEAKING
If there is a silver lining to the cloud of economic recession hanging over the United States, it is that our leaders are being forced to reevaluate systems from financial regulation to energy policy. By including these provisions in the ARRA, the Senate has indicated an understanding that the business-as-usual approach is not working, which is the first step toward developing sustainable solutions to our problems. Now we'll see what the House has to say. ~ Kevin

Kevin Maddaford is a Customer Service and Resource Development Associate at Renewable Choice Energy.