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Renewing Green Development
Developers of big wind and solar projects are struggling to find the capital needed to continue their expansion. And many firms are retrenching, causing future projects to be shelved despite the call for renewable energy.
(By Mel Evans -- Associated Press)
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To meet his goal of doubling wind and solar areas, Obama needs to keep them humming at pre-financial crisis levels of activity. Greg Wetstone, a government affairs expert at the American Wind Energy Association, said that there are 20,000 megawatts of installed wind capacity in the United States and that the industry installed about 7,000 of them last year.
Advocates of renewable energy, including solar and wind trade groups, are pushing the incoming Obama administration and Congress to make the renewable energy tax credits refundable. That means that if a company has no tax liability, the government would simply write the firm a check for the amount of the tax credit. One advantage of making the credits refundable is that it would not require a new appropriation.
Solar firms are also pressing Congress to let homeowners use federal credits even if local or state governments provide other incentives. In Berkeley, Calif., for example, the city is using its borrowing ability to lower interest rates for homeowners who install solar panels. The city gets the money back over 30 years by raising property tax assessments for solar-powered homes. Currently those homeowners would not receive federal tax breaks on the portion of the cost subsidized by the city.
Solar trade groups also want incentives for firms that build manufacturing plants in the United States. Most solar panel makers manufacture in China, the Philippines and other countries.
Lastly, solar firms want Obama to back a $10 billion government effort to install solar on federal buildings. "The elegant beauty here is that you're not only creating hundreds of thousands of jobs but also saving the federal government money in electricity costs over the next 20 years," Resch said.
To be sure, some financial firms are still looking for opportunities. "Goldman Sachs continues to be active in solar and wind and we expect to invest in the near term," said Michael Duvally, a spokesman. "We're open for business."
But Thomas H. Werner, chief executive of SunPower, a San Jose maker of solar panels and systems, said more government incentives are needed. "Policy still makes the market," he said.
