Stimulating Green Energy Investments
January 23, 2009
05:51 PM
Chairman Bingaman, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, praised the inclusion in the Senate Finance Committee mark of a major energy provision that he proposed to the economic stimulus package – a manufacturers tax credit designed to help the renewables industries.
The provision would establish a 30 percent investment tax credit to start to address problems faced by a stressed domestic renewable energy industry. The credit also is intended to help stimulate America’s economy by making the United States a more attractive location for manufacturers of solar, wind and other green technologies. This nearly $2 billion investment in clean energy will pay significant dividends in the form of “green jobs,” bulking up America’s industrial base and boosting the production of homegrown renewable energy.
Chairman Bingaman: “Domestic demand for renewable energy technologies has grown rapidly over the past few years, and we anticipate even faster growth in the immediate future. We know that the right incentives will bring vital manufacturing to American soil. When enacted, it will put our country in a much better position to capture the economic potential associated with growing demand for technologies that harness renewable energy resources.”
Also at Bingaman’s urging, the stimulus bill would create a new bonus Research & Development tax credit, equal to 20 percent of R&D expenditures, for other domestic research efforts in the fields of fuel cells, battery technology, renewable energy, energy conservation technology, efficient transmission and distribution of electricity, and carbon capture and sequestration.
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