Originally published on RMI.org. By Uday Varadarajan, David Posner, Sam Mardell, & Russell Mendell According to the latest US government inventory, solar will account for 39 percent of the electric generation capacity added in 2021, and wind will constitute a further 31 percent. With current technology costs and policy incentives, renewables are now unquestionably … [continued]
A group of 20 US Senate Democrats have called for the extension of clean energy tax incentives such as the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), and the residential renewable energy tax credit, a call which has been applauded and joined by the country’s clean energy associations.
The Southwestern Electric Power Company announced on Monday that it was seeking proposals for up to 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy to be brought into commercial operation by the end of 2021.
The US wind energy industry is expected to install more than 30 gigawatts over the next three years as developers look to take advantage of the wind energy production tax credit that will begin phasing out in 2021.
Federal subsidies for renewable energy—including biofuels for transportation use and renewable generation of electricity—dropped to $6.7 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2016, a 56% decline from FY 2013. Renewable subsidies in FY 2010 and FY 2013 were approximately $15 billion, more than double FY 2016 levels, as support from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) lessened. Despite the decline, renewable energy continued to receive a large share of total federal energy subsidies, accounting for 46% of the FY 2016 total.
The third article about the GateHouse Media story, In the Shadow of Wind Farms.
US Senate Republicans have put forward their own tax reform plan this week which, unlike the tax reform bill proposed by the House, does not take aim at renewable energy provisions such as the wind Production Tax Credit.
Episode 38 of Cleantech Talk kicks off with a discussion of how, while China may be overperforming with its solar panel buildout, those panels are underperforming due to the low air quality there. Which is a polite way of saying that coal-combustion aerosols are reducing solar panels’ electricity harvest — by up to a third! (Dark aerosols, like soot, tend to absorb light; other aerosols such as sulfates and nitrates, reflect light. In both cases, the aerosols prevent light from reaching solar panels below.)
MAKE Consulting has published its latest forecast for the North American wind industry, predicting that the United States will install approximately 59 gigawatts of new wind capacity between 2017 and 2026, driven by a “precarious boom and bust” cycle.
During the confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin gave some hope to the US wind industry when he confirmed he was in favor of leaving the phaseout for the wind Production Tax Credit as it currently stands.
