Renewable energy laws in cross-hairs of conservative groups

Renewable energy advocates made an unsuccessful push last year to expand Missouri’s green power law and help lessen the state’s dependence on fossil fuels.

But the same groups may spend 2013 on defense, working to fend off a movement among conservative groups such as the Heartland Institute and Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform that seek to dismantle such mandates across the country.

Their tool for doing so is the American Legislative Exchange Council, a corporate-backed group of mostly Republican state legislators, that adopted model legislation this fall — a blueprint for members to use to repeal renewable energy laws in their home states.

Brighter Horizon for Biofuels

The biofuel industry breathed a big sigh of relief last month when the EPA declined several governors’ petitions to waive the Renewable Fuel Standard. Then, after a herculean group effort, the industry and other interests stood and cheered as the Senate voted last week to clear the path for the Department of Defense to take a leadership role in opening markets for new advanced biofuels.

Additional regulatory and Congressional actions may give the industry even further cause for celebration in the next few weeks and months. After meeting a number of challenges, the biofuels industry’s cohesive, unified efforts are paying off. The industry needs to continue to support efforts, such as Fuels America, in order to fend off biofuels opponents and detractors.

UK Lawmakers Reach 'Landmark Deal' On Renewable Energy Support

After months of haggling over the costs related to subsidizing renewable energy, the UK Energy and Finance ministries have hammered out an agreement that will triple the nation's support for clean energy.

The policy is expected to boost the share of renewables in the UK to 30% of the energy mix by 2020 - much higher than the 20% European Union target - creating thousands of green jobs in the process.

Britain's current target is mostly for wind - 31 gigawatts of planned offshore and onshore wind - which would bring renewables to 11% of the energy mix by 2020. Many worried that target would be unachievable with big subsidy cuts.

UK shows support for renewable energy with £7.6 billion Energy Bill pledge

The UK Government has finally provided a clear commitment of support for the renewable energy industry today with the major announcement of a £7.6 billion package of investment.

After months of uncertainty, the Government revealed the huge financial boost as it set out the measures for inclusion in the upcoming Energy Bill.

It has been estimated that the Treasury's firm commitment for the provision of £7.6 billion for the renewable energy sector between 2015 and 2020 will now act as the catalyst for at least a further £40 billion of private sector investment.

Will the new bill increase US energy sector competitiveness?

Renewable energy companies could get some of the same tax and funding benefits that fossil fuel companies enjoy under a bill now before the U.S. Congress.

The Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act would let renewable companies form businesses that are taxed as a partnership yet can be publicly traded as stock.

This means they could get more investment and pay less tax.

Bill introduced to spur green energy

A freshman U.S. Democratic senator thinks he may have found a way to encourage investment in wind, solar and biofuel projects without sapping too many taxpayer dollars or injecting new venom into a bitter partisan battle over energy incentives.

Chris Coons introduced legislation on Thursday that would allow a broad range of renewable power generation and transmission projects to qualify for a tax structure used widely by pipeline and other energy-related companies.

Iowa new state tax credit policy makes solar a better investment

There is, after all, something new under the sun -- a tax credit that energy companies and lawmakers say makes installing solar energy systems on homes and businesses an affordable investment.

"A lot of people have been looking at solar energy systems and now, with the state tax credits, they're starting to move forward," Brad Duggan, energy efficiency project manager at Van Meter Inc. in Cedar Rapids said Tuesday. "It makes solar ripe for the residential use. I think it will push the market."

Mass. Senate unanimously passes bill to bolster solar, wind power Read more: Senate unanimously passes bill to bolster solar, wind power

The Senate voted unanimously just before 4:30 p.m. Thursday to pass legislation aimed at bolstering the state's renewable energy supply and getting a better handle on electricity prices.  The bill's passage followed about two hours of debate on often highly technical amendments.  While some critics of the bill worried that efforts to move more deeply into renewable energy might have a negative effect on prices, supporters said investments in the renewable energy sector will pay off in jobs created and less reliance on dirtier imported fuels.  

Bipartisan US Senate bill would extend wind tax credits by two years

Seven US Republican and Democratic senators on Thursday introduced a bill that would extend for two years the federal production tax credit for wind energy that is set to expire at the end of 2012.

"Congress should renew the wind energy tax credit to develop clean energy alternatives and good paying jobs," Iowa's Charles Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.

"Tax relief has succeeded in developing this clean, renewable and innovative energy source and it ought to be continued with the degree of certainty that encourages continued investment," he said.

Florida must get serious about renewable energy

A year later and with only days left in the 2012 session, Florida may once again try to pass a renewable energy bill that will not produce renewable energy. Florida’s HB 7117 and SB 2094 have proven just that, to even include Tea Party rallies in opposition.

China to tax carbon emissions by 2015

China looks set to impose a direct tax on its largest greenhouse gas emitters by 2015, according to reports in state media.

Proposals for an environmental tax are being reviewed by the Ministry of Finance and are expected to come into force before the end of the 2011-2015 five-year plan, the state news agency Xinhua reported today, citing government sources.

Montana: County commissioners support Public Lands Renewable Energy Act

In addressing our country’s debt crisis, the President and Congress need look no further than the great state of Montana. Our diversified economy must be a marvel to behold in states that are making desperate attempts to balance their budgets on the backs of taxpayers. Montana is one of only 12 states operating in the black with a projected $426.7 million surplus for fiscal year 2011.

Indiana announces energy efficiency grants

Lt. Governor Becky Skillman has announced the successful applicants for the Community Conservation Challenge (CCC). The CCC program has nearly $1 million in federal grant funding available for community-wide energy efficiency, renewable energy or alternative fuel vehicle retrofit projects. Each project will bring a variety of local governments, businesses and organizations together to save energy or employ renewable energy technologies with tangible energy savings.

Pakistan: Alternative energy policy to attract investment

The Federal Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar has said that the new Alternative and Renewable Energy policy (ARE 2011) will supplement government’s open door initiatives for attracting investors in this sector, a statement said on Friday.

“The government is targeting fast track development of renewable energy projects through private investment,” Qamar said, while presiding over the 21st board meeting of Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) the statement said.

Feed in tariffs: Investing in a renewable energy future

Clean energy skeptics have seized on the failure of Solyndra to argue that scaling up renewable sources is a pipe dream.

They should visit Germany.

In the first quarter of 2011, Germany’s renewable energy output accounted for 19.2 percent of its total electricity consumption. Germany installed more solar PV in 2010 than the whole rest of the world and is well on its way to meeting the target of 35 percent of its electricity coming from renewables by 2020. And, in 2010, almost 370,000 people were employed in the renewable energy sector.

Climate policy initiative finds long-term, stable policy support key to reducing cost of financing renewable energy projects

Feed-in-Tariffs (FiTs), Feed-in-Premia (FiPs), and Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) met through long-term power or premium contracts, lowered financing costs in case studies

Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)'s analysis of six large-scale renewable projects in the United States and Europe found that policies can deliver the largest reductions in project financing costs by providing long-term revenue support, offering revenue certainty, and reducing investor perceptions of risk. CPI identified specific ways in which policies affected the cost of finance for these projects and estimated the size of these effects by modeling a range of policy scenarios for each project. The analysis found that:

Philippines: The President’s renewable energy policy

Energy Secretary Rene Almendras returned a day ahead of President Noynoy Aquino last week from Japan. Despite his abbreviated stay, many are hoping that Secretary Almendras’ visit to the Land of the Rising Sun would have convinced him further that he is doing the right thing by pushing the President’s strong pro-renewable energy policy.

India: New energy policy after Pujas

The state government, which had earlier publicly said no to the setting up of Haripur nuclear plant, will launch its policy on renewable energy soon after the pujas. This was stated by minister for power and planning and development Manish Gupta at the sidelines of a programme in Kolkata on Sunday.