Arizona's biggest solar-power plant, its first wind-power plant and countless other renewable-energy projects can move ahead after Friday's House endorsement of a huge bailout package.
Tacked on to the relief bill were 30 percent tax-credit extensions for wind and solar that bounced around Congress for the past year, leaving many projects in doubt, from household solar panels to 300-foot-tall wind turbines.
The credits also will benefit homeowners who install solar panels to power their houses, substantially reducing the price of such systems, which typically run in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Among the top projects in Arizona to benefit from the extensions is the Solana Generating Station, a huge solar-power plant near Gila Bend from which Arizona Public Service Co. hopes to purchase electricity starting in 2011.
The plant developer, Abengoa Solar Inc. of Spain, said the project would not be economical without the credits.
"No question this is significant and positive," APS spokesman Jim McDonald said. "We were confident it would pass sometime this year."
Solar credits were extended eight years, while wind credits got only a one-year extension.
Wind-power proponents balanced their praise for the credits Friday with an eye toward winning a longer extension.
"We are very pleased that Congress extended the production tax credit for wind, enabling our industry to continue our rapid growth and U.S. job creation," Steven Lockard, president and CEO of wind-turbine blade maker TPI Composites Inc. in Scottsdale, said in a prepared statement.
"In 2009, we hope the focus turns to providing long-term stable policy to support continued expansion of wind energy."
Many wind projects require a year or more of monitoring to ensure the most-efficient turbines are installed at the proper height to generate the most electricity, so the wind extension benefits only projects that are near breaking ground.
Arizona is scheduled to get its first commercial wind project near Snowflake before 2010, with the entire electrical output of the farm contracted to Salt River Project.
"It's possible, had the tax credit not been extended, that the plant wouldn't have happened," SRP spokesman Scott Harelson said. "We had a contract for a product at a price that assumed the tax credit. (The developer) could have gone forward, but would have needed to find a customer, it might have been SRP, who would pay a higher price for that electricity."
Homeowners who install solar panels will benefit substantially from the credits.
For example, a medium-size system might retail for more than $42,000. But rebates from local utilities and a state tax credit can cover about $20,000 of that cost, according to American Solar Electric Inc. in Scottsdale.
The remaining $22,000 still represents a significant investment, more than what many homeowners spend on a car.
But the 30 percent tax credits are worth almost $13,000 on such a system, knocking the out-of-pocket price below $10,000, according to the company's figures.
Those credits are even sweeter after the extension because they previously were capped at $2,000.
"(The tax credit) creates an unprecedented opportunity to own a residential solar-electric power system," American Solar Electric President Sean Seitz said.
(Via. AZcentral.com)
1 comment:
Excellent and helpful post… I am so glad to left comment on this.
Local Solar Panel Installers
Solar Installers Near Me
Post a Comment