$30 Million Tax Credit for Offshore Wind in Democrats’ Tax Bill

December 14th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

One big problem for the US, compared with Europe and China, is that not enough money is invested by the government in the massive conversion needed to advanced renewable energy.

In previous ages it was the US government that invested in the start of the railroads, telegraph, interstate highways and other massive change infrastructure. But now there is little government support of the new infrastructure needed.

We supposedly prefer drowning government in a bathtub. Which is fine if you are Somalia. But not in the developed world.

This puts the US at a competitive disadvantage, with the world bypassing us in the cleantech race. But this year saw the beginning of private investment in what is normally government investment in completely new tech infrastructure, with Google’s massive investment in off-shore wind.

Shouldn’t our government be making that sort of out-on-a-limb investment more attractive? Turns out, ours is.

This week Senate Democrats offered tax incentives to make renewable investment more attractive to VC investors in a bill proposed by Senator Feinstein to be included in the Tax bill, with the Advanced Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2010.

(SEC 966) Investors in off-shore wind will get a tax credit of up to $30 million a year till 2016 Off-shore is defined as including on inland waterways as well, that have wind potential; for example on the Great Lakes.

The Obama administration has streamlined the permitting of off-shore wind. Already 53 Democrats out of 58 voted for renewable energy in the first attempt to pass the tax bill.

Then they over ruled the Republicans who tried to force the Obama administration to take out the renewable energy stimulus tax credits. The Democrats prevailed. Now these provisions are back in.

This is likely to pass in tomorrow’s tax bill.

[Update 12/16/2010: In the end none of the many amendments offered on 12/13 were allowed. Most were terrible, so for the others, it was a good thing, but unfortunately for this one. It did not get a chance at an up or down vote, despite Energy Chair Senator Bingaman’s support]

Susan kraemer@Twitter

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Tags: $30 million tax credit, Advanced Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2010, Senate Democrats, Senator Feinstein, tax bill, tax incentives

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

http://www.thegreenjobbank.com Bernard

I agree that the government should help develop the infrastructure as it did for the telegraph, and railroad. However, there is a huge difference between energy production and transportation or telecommunications: energy generation can be home-based, or community-based. Our government has already made the implicit choice that it wants energy to be generated centrally by big (or soon to be big) corporations. I’m aware that homeowners get incentives too, but by total amount, it’s quite limited.

I’d love to know if there’s a study somewhere that compares the cost and job creation power of building and maintaining 1) the 250-megawatt California Valley Solar Ranch solar plant, and 2) installing solar panels on 100,000 homes. The study would have to take into account the fact that with local/home-based power generation, the need for a sophisticated grid is lessened (not removed, but not as critical), and that would be a huge cost saving.
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  One big problem for rooftop solar is 8 out of 10 people won’t or can’t do it. In these days, even $1,000 for a down payment or credit is a problem, even though they save money long term. So I think we need both utility-scale AND rooftops/homes and businesses. (also the tax incentives for 30% off rooftop’ solar is extended till 2013 already, so it is not news).