Solar Industry's Five-Step Plan

After the Senate failed to pass two bills that would have extended tax credits for renewable energy, the Solar Energy Industries Association has scripted a battle blueprint to save the U.S. market -- complete with four contingency plans.

by Jennifer Kho
February 22, 2008

Read about SEIA President Rhone Resch's speech at this week's Piper Jaffray conference here.

In the heat of the battle to get tax-credit extensions for renewable energy, keeping track of all the different tactics can get complicated. Here's the Solar Energy Industries Association's step-by-step plan to save the incentives from expiring at the end of this year:

 

  1. H.R. 3221: Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has requested another vote on a bill that would extend the current 30-percent commercial investment tax credit by eight years, extend the residential tax credit by six years and raise the cap on residential credits from $2,000 to $4,000. A repeal of some oil and gas incentives would help pay for the renewable-energy credits. The Senate previously failed to pass this bill.
  2. H.R. 5351: The association expects a new bill, the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act of 2008, to be introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday or Thursday, said Monique Hanis, an SEIA spokesperson. The bill calls for the same provisions as H.R. 3221.
  3. Budget Reconciliation: The association also is trying to get the extensions included in the federal budget, which the House and Senate expect to complete by April 15, Hanis said. It's unclear where the money would come from, but it wouldn't be attached to a repeal of oil and gas incentives, she said.
  4. Economic-Stimulus Package: While a one-year extension was left out of the economic-stimulus package the Senate passed earlier this month, the association still hopes a multiyear extension will be included in what President Rhone Resch calls the "Economic-Stimulus Package - Part 2." In this attempt, Hanis said the association hopes to lift the $2,000 cap on residential credits all together.
  5. Extender Bill: If all the above attempts fail, the association will try to get another bill introduced at the end of the year that would extend the current incentives for one to two years. The industry did the same thing last year and Resch seems confident that this so-called "insurance policy" would work if everything else gets rejected.