Wind, solar backers take their case to Congress

Dec 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jennifer A. Dlouhy Houston Chronicle

Supporters of wind and solar energy urged Congress on Wednesday to renew a federal grant program credited with jump-starting renewable power projects nationwide.

The incentive program is set to expire at month's end unless Congress acts -- but the odds of that happening narrowed when the initiative was left out of a tax cut package developed by the Obama administration and congressional Republicans.

Under the grant program, companies can nab direct cash payments from the Treasury Department that cover up to 30 percent of the cost of building qualified renewable projects.

The initiative was created as part of last year's stimulus package in response to concerns that the economic downturn had caused traditional renewable energy financing tied to investment and production tax credits to dry up.

Because that tax credit financing market hasn't rebounded, the incentive program is "the most important policy for continued growth of the renewable energy industry in the United States," Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a conference call with reporters.

Tens of thousands of jobs tied to the construction of wind farms, solar arrays and geothermal operations financed by the incentive program hang in the balance, Resch said.

In Texas, the nation's leader for wind power generation, more than 3,000 jobs "in the manufacturing pipeline" for new projects are threatened, said Denise Bode, chief executive of the American Wind Energy Association.

"Without continuation of this policy, we will absolutely have layoffs ahead," Bode said.

Faced with the program's possible demise, renewable-energy executives are making personal pleas to lawmakers, and industry lobbyists are circulating on Capitol Hill with fact sheets that show what projects are benefiting in every state.

"We've pretty much dropped everything as an industry" to fight for the program, Resch said, adding: "It really is an all-out effort."

If Congress doesn't reauthorize the grant program, it would mean a second blow to the renewable energy sector, which already failed this year to convince lawmakers to require that utilities must derive more of their electricity from the wind, sun and other easily replenished sources. That would have helped drive demand for renewable energy and helped it compete with lower-cost power sources, such as natural gas.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the head of the Senate Finance Committee, had advanced a proposal to extend the program for one year, at an estimated price of $1.3 billion.

But it was left out of the tax cut plan developed by White House officials earlier this week. That package would temporarily renew Bush-era tax cuts in exchange for extending unemployment benefits and some tax provisions aimed at middle- and low-income households.

jennifer.dlouhy@chron.com