News

Please send us news about clean-technology companies, trends, and industry events. All materials are subject to editorial review. E-mail us at editor@cleanedge.com.

indexes

Clean Edge Stock Indexes: Tracking the Performance of U.S.-Traded Clean-Energy and Global Wind and Smart Grid Infrastructure Companies.

Subscribe to Clean Edge RSS

Previous Story
Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /nfs/c03/h04/mnt/56426/domains/cleanedge.com/html/news/story.php on line 150
| Next Story

PTC/ITC to Hit the Senate Floor Again

July 28, 2008
Source: New Energy Finance

The Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has once again introduced tax legislation that would extend federal tax credits considered critical to the development of US renewables.

Senator Max Baucus introduced the modified version of his tax package on 24 July. He had previously attempted to get the bill through in June 2008 but was blocked by Senate Republicans.

Baucus' new bill includes the same Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit extensions as his original. The PTC would be extended by one year for wind, and three years for biomass, geothermal, marine and landfill gas projects. The ITC would be extended by eight years for solar development under the bill, which would also authorize an additional USD 2bn in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds. The provisions are expected to cost roughly USD 10.3bn over 10 years.

The bill also includes tax incentives for a variety of energy efficiency and emission reduction initiatives, a USD 61.3bn Alternative Minimum Tax patch, and billions more in business extender provisions. Incentives in the bill are to be partially offset by proposed tax revenue increases, which will likely keep Senate Republicans from supporting the legislation again, should it go to a vote. Even if the bill passes the Senate, the revenue offsets might not be substantial enough to convince fiscally conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives to forego their pay-for philosophy.

The bill's fate could be decided as soon as next week. The legislation is expected to head to a vote in the Senate before the August recess, which starts on 1 August.