Clean Energy Tax Credits Will Not Be Extended Without Funding

Federal renewable energy tax credits, Congress’ favorite subject to debate but do little about, has once again been brought to the Senate floor. But because the amendment still has no funding mechanism suitable for pay-go rules, I would argue it stands little

chance of passage. Pay-go compels new spending and tax law changes to not add to the federal deficit, or if they do, they must create some sort of offset somewhere else in the budget [read more about pay-go].

In a wonky twist that would alter the clean energy incentive structure in this country rather significantly, Senators Alexander (R-TN) and Kyl (R-AZ) offered an amendment (S. Amdt 4429) that would extend the production tax credit for two years (instead of one) for wind, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas, small hydro, and wave and tidal power. But the provision would also cut the production tax credit for wind in half and spread the funding out more evenly across technologies.

“I would argue that wind is over-subsidized,” said Alexander. “Wind is a proven technology… and this amendment would focus on emerging baseload technologies.”

The amendments are being considered as part of a housing and foreclosure package and they are completely unrelated to the House’s Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act (H.R. 3221), which would have rolled back tax breaks for oil companies in order to pay for the renewable tax incentives. The tax package last fell short of passage in the Senate in February - by a margin of one vote.

‘Feast or famine’ Cycles of Clean Energy Development (CleanTechnica)

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