Life in the trenches of renewable energy policy

This week's conversation, with former MA Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles, was insightful and indicative of someone who has a strong pulse on the state of renewable energy in this country and beyond.

Ian talks to us about the realities, the good news and bad news, the evolution of the North East (particularly the Boston area) as a hotbed for alternative energy development and what this has meant for jobs, the inherent challenges of implementing renewable energy, general trends, his view of the future of renewable energy, and much more.

Renewable industry leaders call for production tax credit extension

Executives from the hydropower, geothermal and biomass industries have called upon the U.S. Congress to extend the production tax credit through 2016 for hydropower, geothermal and biomass.

The executives are calling for the immediate passage of the American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act of 2011 (H.R. 3307), which covers renewable technologies. The bill has bipartisan support. It was introduced by U.S. Representatives Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Earl Blumenaeur (D-OR) .

23 Governors, 369 orgs throw support behind four-year PTC extension bill

Most recently, a broad, nonpartisan coalition of 369 members, including manufacturing, farm and business interests, issued a letter endorsing a four-year extension to the Production Tax Credit (PTC), wind energy's key federal tax incentive. Legislation recently introduced by Representatives Dave Reichert (R, WA-08) and Earl Blumenauer (D, OR-03) seeks to grant a four-year extension to the existing PTC for wind energy (H.R. 3307, the "American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act").

USA: Extending the Renewable Energy PTC

Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) have introduced legislation aimed at extending the Production Tax Credit, or PTC. 

First conceived in 1992 as part of the Energy Policy Act (H.R. 776), the PTC has been renewed year after year and also incorporated into the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as part of that Act’s Renewable Energy Production Incentives. The PTC currently provides a 2.2-cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on wind, closed-loop biomass, and geothermal resources for the first decade of a renewable energy facility’s life. Other renewable forms of energy receive a tax credit of 1 cent per kWh.