The Senate Cantwell-Ensign amendment (#4419) enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support and its adoption sent a clear signal that legislators hope to pass the renewable energy tax credit extensions soon. Besides a one-year extension of the production tax credit for wind and others, the solar industry gains several benefits: 8-year extension of commercial ITC, repeal of utility exemption, and removal of AMT exemption; 1-year extension of residential ITC, complete lifting of the $2,000 cap for residential PV projects, and removal of AMT exemption. It included all elements of the Cantwell-Ensign proposed bill, S. 2821.
 

Yesterday the House Ways and Means Committee reported out its version of a housing stimulus package. SEIA staff is already in contact with staff and leaders in the House and Senate on next steps.

There is still much work to be done and SEIA staff is pivoting to focus on the House in an effort to garner the same level of support we saw from the Senate. The Hill press has reported that Senator Ensign has reached out to White House staff for early engagement and support in finding a path to pass an extension to the renewable energy tax credits. Both CNN Money and E&E News recognized the challenges faced in resolving elements of House and Senate bills, particularly how to address House-proposed pay-for’s over the next few weeks.

Our industry also attracted overwhelming support from more than 250 wide-ranging groups, companies and political leaders from across the nation. Our grasstops coalition work over the last several months resulted in several support letters being sent as well as personal calls placed to Hill leaders. Notable signers on the letters were 3M, Best Buy, Bosch, Conergy, Dow Chemical Co., Duke Energy, Edison Electric Institute, GE Energy, Home Depot, John Deere, JP Morgan Chase, National Association of Home Builders, National Venture Capital Assn., Sierra Club, Target, Trane, the United Steelworkers and Whirlpool. Separate letters were sent by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, and Western Governors Association. This represents a huge outpouring of support for good policy that 85 percent of the American public supports.

Congratulations to everyone for getting past this important hurdle that has plagued us for 10 months. And, again, thanks for all your support. Your calls, letters, and personal visits to congressional members and your contributions to SEIA’s PAC have all made a huge difference in our ability to effectively elevate the solar industry message.

LIST OF CURRENT 23 COSPONSORS:

Allard (R-CO), Cantwell (D-WA), Coleman (R-MN), Collins (R-ME), Cornyn (R-TX), Craig (R-ID), Dole (R-NC), Domenici (R-NM), Ensign (R-NV), Feinstein (D-CA), Graham (R-SC), Hatch (R-UT), Klobuchar (D-MN), Martinez (R-FL), Roberts (R-KS), Salazar (D-CO), Sanders (D-VT), Schumer (D-NY), Smith (R-WA), Snowe (R-ME), Stabenow (D-MI), Sununu (R-NH), and Thune (R-SD).

To locate your Senators’ Washington phone number, go to http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt and type in your company’s zip code.  Alternatively, you can reach your Senators’ offices through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121. Convey the following points to your Senator:

·        I work for (name of company) in your state (describe the company, # employees, growth).

·        The solar investment tax credits are critical to our company’s business and must be extended this year to prevent a slowdown in solar development and job creation.

·        The solar tax credits will reduce energy costs, increase energy independence, and create more jobs in your state.

·        Please do what is right for your constituents and for the country.

·        We need you to cosponsor the Clean Energy Tax Stimulus Act of 2008 that includes strong solar tax provisions.

While this is a new and exciting development, and represents a potential breakthrough in the Senate, renewal of the ITC still faces significant hurdles for passage—including resolution of different provisions from the House-passed bill (H.R. 5351). If the Senate succeeds in passing legislation, it will move to a conference between the two chambers. If you have any questions about the current outlook or the content of the bill, please visit our ITC Resource Page at www.seia.org/itc. 

Please share this message with your company colleagues, friends, and others who support solar.

And just as had happened twice before, the bill (on this occasion the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax of 2008, H.R. 5351) passed the House comfortably. The final vote was 236 - 182 with 11 members of the House not voting, and was largely split along party lines.

In a joint statement, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and sponsor of the bill Charles Rangel said: “The bill extends and expands tax incentives for renewable electricity, energy and fuel, as well as for hybrid cars, and energy efficient homes, buildings, and appliances. It does not add to our deficit, but rather repeals $18 billion in tax subsidies for Big Oil companies. By strengthening our renewable energy sector, the bill will help create the next generation of good-paying, green collar jobs and bring down energy prices in the long term.”

Of course, it’s that “$18 billion in tax subsidies for Big Oil” that has stymied similar bills before, with Senate Republicans closing ranks in the face of intense lobbying from that very sector of American industry. And the Bush Administration has already issued a letter indicating that the president will veto a bill that rolls back tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, so all eyes are now on the Senate: can the Finance Committee find sources of revenue for renewable energy tax credits that are less objectionable to the GOP and the White House?

We understand that in this interim period between House and Senate votes, Finance Committee members are working hard to find common ground between opposing positions. There are other potential sources of revenue out there that could sway enough Republicans to switch their vote when the bill comes to the Senate floor in late April–enough to avoid a filibuster, perhaps enough even to overcome a veto–but it’s going to take a lot of haggling on the Hill to make everybody play nice.

Postscript: We’re told—by Oil and Gas—that Oil and Gas needs those tax breaks to finance exploration for new sources of oil and gas. What a difference three years makes. Here’s President Bush on 5/14/2005:

“And so one of the initiatives that I will push, again, is to get an energy bill out. I will tell you with $55 oil we don’t need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore. There are plenty of incentives. What we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country over time become less dependent. It’s really important. It’s an important part of our economic security, and it’s an important part of our national security.”

http://www.solar-nation.org/2008/03/24/whats-the-latest-on-that-energy-bill/

While the U.S. House has happily passed the renewable energy credits that have, for the last few years, kept the U.S. competitive with other countries in this burgeoning new economy, the Senate has failed to pass the legislation three times.

The largest planned solar power project in history, a 280-megawatt solar thermal plant in Arizona, will not be built if the tax credits are not extended. But that’s not where the story ends. Over 42,000 MW — that’s as much as 75 coal-fired power plants — are hinging on this bill. Those projects, representing the largest yearly growth in U.S. solar EVER, will go online in 42 states only if the subsidies stay in place.

The renewable energy credits will expire at the end of 2008 and already planned projects are putting in a provision saying that they will cancel if the credits are not passed. The problem seems to be that every version of the renewable energy credit bill that has hit the Senate takes subsidies away from oil and gas companies and gives them to the renewables energy. Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, the head Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has said that he will block any such legislation, calling the repeal of their subsidies a “tax” on oil and gas.

Many Senators claim that ending oil and gas subsidies will only serve to increase gas prices but, call me crazy, giving taxpayers’ money to the oil companies so they can lower prices doesn’t really make that much sense. We could just give the money straight to the taxpayers instead of helping to increase the already-record profits of the oil industry.

Subsidies exist to help bolster new economies when they need the capital, not to prop up dying systems. If our country can put together the funding to create 42 gigawatts of renewable energy, that will be something that we can all be proud of. That, in fact, will stop the demand for new coal power plants while putting us in a position to compete with the rest of the world in this new energy economy.

Senate Democrats are scrambling to put together a stand-alone version of the bill. The last two have failed by just one vote (notably, John McCain did not vote on either bill) and Democrats are confident that they can pull that extra vote from somewhere before their effectual deadline at the end of the first quarter of ‘08. Let’s hope they get this done…NOW.

OK, team, all you wonderful Citizenre Solar Advocates…

The battle has resumed. We all knew it was coming; after the failures to extend the Solar Tax Credits before Christmas, it was just a matter of time.

 This from Solar Nation:

A few minutes ago, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax of 2008 (H.R. 5351). The final vote was 236 - 182 with 11 members of the House not voting, and was largely split along party lines.

In a joint statement, Speaker Pelosi, House Majority Leader Hoyer and sponsor of the bill Rangel said: “The bill extends and expands tax incentives for renewable electricity, energy and fuel, as well as for hybrid cars, and energy efficient homes, buildings, and appliances. It does not add to our deficit, but rather repeals $18 billion in tax subsidies for Big Oil companies.”

“The bill extends and expands tax incentives for renewable electricity, energy and fuel, as well as for hybrid cars, and energy efficient homes, buildings, and appliances,” the Democratic leaders’ statement continued.  “It does not add to our deficit, but rather repeals $18 billion in tax subsidies for Big Oil companies. By strengthening our renewable energy sector, the bill will help create the next generation of good-paying, green collar jobs and bring down energy prices in the long term.”

House Democrats spoke out in favor of the bill, saying that it will help push the U.S. toward energy independence. On the other side of the aisle, House Republicans spoke out against it on the grounds that it would do nothing more than single out America’s domestic oil industry with higher taxes that will hurt the economy and the pocket books of consumers.

H.R. 5351 will increase investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency and will pay for that investment by repealing unnecessary tax breaks to traditional energy companies. It is similar to the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act (H.R. 2776) that passed the House as part of a bipartisan energy package in August 2007 but was stripped in order for the package to pass in the Senate.

The Bush Administration has already issued a letter indicating that the president will veto a bill that rolls back tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, so all eyes are now on the Senate, to see whether the Finance Committee can find less objectionable sources of revenue

So what to tell Senate Republicans?1) We want these extensions now. And, 2) We support the plan to pay for these incentives by repealing the fossil fuel subsidies.

It is very predictable that this vote will be framed as a “new industry” vs. “old industry” battle. The environment, while important, will not carry as much sway as do jobs. The core point: fossil fuel jobs are shrinking because the resource is shrinking. Clean energy jobs will grow, because clean energy is readily available, in many forms. These jobs can grow faster- but only if and when policy makers speed up that growth.

Please call your Republican Representatives today. Ask them to Please support H.R. 5351. Here’s the mantra:

+ Renewable energy is abundant, sustainable and inexhaustible– an economy fueled by renewables is secure.

+ Long term incentives help grow markets, which help grow companies and create jobs.

+ Tax breaks for the oil and gas industries keeps their prices artificially low- and uses those finite resources up more quickly.

+ Renewable energy –in all forms — is in everyone’s interest. (”renewable” does not mean “clean coal”, LNG or nuclear in any form).

Decision in the Senate could happen quickly or it may take a week or more to get to the vote.
Let’s once again show those folks on Capitol Hill that the time for clean energy has arrived.

THANK YOU.

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) has announced plans for one of the world’s largest solar facilities – a 280-megawatt (MW) concentrating solar power (CSP) plant – to be built 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, near Gila Bend, AZ.

A ‘power tower’ type of CSP plant
near Seville, Spain; photo credit: Abengoa

The project is enthusiastically supported by Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. However, its viability is dependent on the long-term extension of investment tax credits for solar facilities, which have gone down to defeat twice since December in the U.S. Congress. On both occasions, ironically enough, Arizona senator and presidential candidate John McCain was absent for the crucial vote.

Read more about the Solana CSP generating station here.

Posted by Martin LaMonica |

NEW YORK–The solar industry’s trade group is borrowing political tactics from the oil and gas industry to try to extend a tax credit that it considers vital to continued growth of renewable energy.

Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), said Wednesday that his group has created a lobbying coalition of utilities, homebuilders, and environmentalists to pressure Congress to pass a law to extend–and improve –an existing tax credit for renewable energy investments. The group has also formed a political action committee to ensure that Congress members who voted against the renewable energy tax credit are not re-elected, he said.

“We talk about the green revolution…It’s not a revolution until some blood gets spilled,” said Resch, who spoke at the Piper Jaffray Clean Technology and Renewables Conference here Wednesday.

Resch added that the investment tax credit has become a political football. “There’s going to be a lot less grand-standing in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

He noted that a tax-credit bill needs to be passed by the end of the first quarter.

An existing federal tax credit for renewable energy projects is set to expire at the end of 2008. An extension of the tax credit was narrowly defeated at the end of last year during the creation of the 2007 Energy Act, and an economic stimulus plan was passed without the extension earlier this month.

Resch said that the solar industry is abandoning its strategy of pushing for a repeal of a tax break for oil and gas manufacturers in order to pay for the solar tax credit. The solar industry will favor a broader lobbying push instead.

The industry is seeking an eight-year extension of the existing investment tax credit and a more generous credit, which is now 30 percent of the total cost of commercial renewable-energy projects.

Resch said that the industry has already started to see “significant sales drop-off” because of the uncertainty surrounding the investment tax credit, particularly for large-scale solar projects.

He said he’s optimistic about the passage of a law this year.

Next year is shaping up to be much more supportive for the renewable-energy industry because all three top presidential candidates are very strong on addressing climate change, Resch said.

Solar-to-grid Conversion Efficiency World Record Set

On a perfect New Mexico winter day — with the sky almost 10 percent brighter than usual — Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems (SES) set a new solar-to-grid system conversion efficiency record by achieving a 31.25 percent net efficiency rate. The old 1984 record of 29.4 percent was toppled Jan. 31 on SES’s “Serial #3″ solar dish Stirling system at Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility.

“The demonstrated high efficiency means more energy is generated for the given investment, lowering the cost of the energy delivered.”
– Bruce Osborn, President and CEO, Stirling Energy Systems

The conversion efficiency is calculated by measuring the net energy delivered to the grid and dividing it by the solar energy hitting the dish mirrors. Auxiliary loads, such as water pumps, computers and tracking motors, are accounted for in the net power measurement.

“Gaining two whole points of conversion efficiency in this type of system is phenomenal,” says Bruce Osborn, SES president and CEO. “This is a significant advancement that takes our dish engine systems well beyond the capacities of any other solar dish collectors and one step closer to commercializing an affordable system.”

Serial #3 was erected in May 2005 as part of a prototype six-dish model power plant at the Sandia Solar Thermal Test Facility that produces up to 150 kilowatts (kW) of grid-ready electrical power during the day. Each dish unit consists of 82 mirrors formed in a dish shape to focus the light to an intense beam.

The solar dish generates electricity by focusing the sun’s rays onto a receiver, which transmits the heat energy to a Stirling engine. The engine is a sealed system filled with hydrogen. As the gas heats and cools, its pressure rises and falls. The change in pressure drives the pistons inside the engine, producing mechanical power, which in turn drives a generator and makes electricity.

Lead Sandia project engineer Chuck Andraka says that several technical advancements to the systems made jointly by SES and Sandia led to the record-breaking solar-to-grid conversion efficiency. SES owns the dishes and all the hardware. Sandia, a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory, provides technical and analytical support to SES in a relationship that dates back more than 10 years.

Andraka says the first and probably most important advancement was improved optics. The Stirling dishes are made with a low iron glass with a silver backing that make them highly reflective — focusing as much as 94 percent of the incident sunlight to the engine package, where prior efforts reflected about 91 percent. The mirror facets, patented by Sandia and Paneltec Corp. of Lafayette, CO, are highly accurate and have minimal imperfections in shape.

Both improvements allow for the loss-control aperture to be reduced to seven inches in diameter — meaning light is highly concentrated as it enters the receiver.

Other advancements to the solar dish-engine system that helped Sandia and SES beat the energy conversion record were a new, more effective radiator that also costs less to build and a new high-efficiency generator.

While all the enhancements led to a better system, one aspect made it happen on a beautiful New Mexico winter day — the weather.

“It was a ‘perfect storm’ of sorts,” Andraka says. “We set the record on Jan. 31, a very cold and extremely bright day, a day eight percent brighter than normal.”

The temperature, which hovered around freezing, allowed the cold portion of the engine to operate at about 23°C, and the brightness means more energy was produced while most parasitic loads and losses are constant. The test ran for two and a half hours, and a 60-minute running average was used to evaluate the power and efficiency data, in order to eliminate transient effects. During the testing phase, the system produced 26.75 kW net electrical power.

Osborn says that SES is working to commercialize the record-performing system and has signed power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) for up to 1,750 megawatts (MW) of power, representing the world’s two largest solar power contracts. Collectively, these contracts require up to 70,000 solar dish engine units.

“This exciting record shows that using these dishes will be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way of producing power,” Osborn says. “SES is actively engaged in the commercialization of the system, called the ‘SunCatcher,’ including continuing to prepare it for mass production, completing project site development and preconstruction activities, and establishing partnerships with substantial manufacturing and industrial organizations to develop a cost-effective manufacturing process and supply chain. The demonstrated high efficiency means more energy is generated for the given investment, lowering the cost of the energy delivered.”