Renewable Industry Groups Jointly Call for Tax Incentives, Federal RES

Executives from U.S. wind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and solar industry groups on Tuesday jointly called on Congress to enact tax incentives, a federal renewable energy standard (RES), and comprehensive legislation—measures they said would accelerate growth in those energy sectors.

Executives from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the National Hydropower Association (NHA), the Biomass Power Association (BPA), the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) told reporters in a telephone press conference that the renewable energy sector could face a downturn in investment and jobs in 2010 if key policies were not enacted.

A federal RES could help the U.S. expand and maintain leadership in wind turbine manufacturing, particularly at a time when China is quickly moving into renewable energy production, said AWEA’s CEO Denise Bode.

“The importance of building a strong renewable energy manufacturing base in the U.S. cannot be overstated. The U.S. has a historic opportunity to fortify the clean energy economy but is committing unilateral economic disarmament by not giving itself the policy tools to do so,” she said.

Linda Church Ciocci, executive director of NHA echoed Bode: “We need a strong RES, tax incentives and other support policy if we are to double hydropower’s contribution to America’s energy portfolio.” But, long-term investment and production tax credits were also necessary, Ciocci said, particularly for pumped hydro storage, which took time to build. Ciocci applauded recent congressional efforts to prompt renewable energy growth, however, saying that for the “first time in more than a decade,” the hydropower sector—especially pumped storage and hydrokinetic energy—had seen tremendous growth in 2009.

BPA President Robert Cleaves warned that by letting key production tax credits for biomass power expire at the end of last year, Congress was allowing the loss of “thousands of jobs.” He also lamented the pitting of one renewable sector over others, such as wind and solar, and pointed out that biomass made up nearly half of all renewable energy production in the U.S.

“These tax credits are literally the life-line to many biomass power facilities that provide long-term high paying jobs in rural areas currently facing unemployment levels as high as 15%,” he said. “Congress should support all American sources of renewable energy by renewing the production tax credit for biomass power and passing an aggressive national renewable electricity standard.”

Karl Gawell, executive director of the GEA said the geothermal industry had seen solid growth in 2009 despite the recession, expanding 6% due to six new geothermal plants that came online. This was because Congress enacted stimulus legislation with a historic group of incentives supporting geothermal technologies, he said. But for the U.S. to remain a leader in geothermal energy production, Congress would need to adopt longer-term measures, including “extending the stimulus bill’s tax incentives through 2016, adopting a strong renewable electricity standard, and other measures to keep the U.S. a leader in geothermal energy,” he said.

SEIA CEO Rhone Resch also spoke of the solar sector’s immense growth in 2009 and said that 2010 had been projected to be another banner year, with the industry expected to grow more than 100%. The U.S. had seen stellar growth in manufacturing, too, he said, pointing out that renewable incentives had attracted Chinese company Sunpower—the world’s largest photovoltaic panel maker—to set up a manufacturing facility in Arizona. “But we can only keep up that momentum if Congress enacts a jobs bill that promotes deployment of solar and other clean energy technologies,” he said.

Source: POWERnews