Nowhere to go but up

Often, the best way to deliver a piece of bad news is to come right out and say it: 2004 was a bust year for the renewable energy industry. Sure, Congress reinstated the Production Tax Credit (PTC) last October, but not until it had lapsed. The result of the subsidy gap was predictable: an industry...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Power 2005-02, Vol.149 (1), p.28-32
Main Author: Wicker, Ken
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative energy sources
Business conditions
Carbon
Electricity
Energy industry
Energy policy
Industrial plant emissions
Renewable resources
Tax credits
Turbines
Wind power
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Summary:Often, the best way to deliver a piece of bad news is to come right out and say it: 2004 was a bust year for the renewable energy industry. Sure, Congress reinstated the Production Tax Credit (PTC) last October, but not until it had lapsed. The result of the subsidy gap was predictable: an industry in disarray, canceled orders, and job losses. The new PTC provides a 1.8/kWh tax credit, annually adjusted for inflation, for electricity produced by several types of generating stations powered by renewable fuels. One thing that environmentalists and their opposites can agree on is that local and federal government policies that either mandate shares in generation mixes or enable tax write-offs are a major driver of renewables' market success. Now that the PTC is back on the books, optimists say 2005 is off to a good start.
ISSN:0032-5929
1936-7791