Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers,
Miracle on Pennsylvania Ave (photographed & photoblended by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
Sunshine Coming Through (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
I could’t decide on which of the two images above (Miracle on Pennsylvania Ave or Sunshine Coming Through) to use for this post. Perhaps we should have you all, the readers, vote on it. Let me know via sunisthefuture@gmail.com
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It’s great to be back after taking care of some family matter to report such terrific news! Thanks to one of our dear readers asking a very important question concerning the current status of our federal tax credit for installing solar.
For those of you who may need a bit of refresher on all the renewable energy & energy efficiency tax incentives throughout 50 states of USA, please click–>DSIRE. For U.S. Territories’ tax credit programs, please click U.S. Territories . For U.S. Federal tax credit programs, please click Federal . Just a few weeks ago, an extension of the U.S. ITC (Investment Tax Credit) seemed unlikely and solar businesses globally were getting ready to base their future business strategies on the tax credit stepping down to 10% on January 1, 2017, and expiring entirely for individuals. Just at this nick of time….I should have known since my first time viewing the Miracle On 34th Street….many miracles may take place here in USA….even in Washington, D.C….
On December 18, 2015, the U.S. Senate has passed an omnibus spending bill which includes extension of the 30% federal ITC for solar (PTC for wind). Under this extension, the ITC will stay at 30% through 2020, and then decline gradually for two years before falling to 10%. The legislation also allows for PV projects to claim the credit for the year in which they begin construction. This bill includes the lifting of a 40-year ban on oil exports (this 40-year ban came into existence during the time when U.S. was having shortage of oil so it is now graduating from being a poor policy to being an exceptionally poor policy because U.S. is now an exporter rather than an importer of oil). So the elimination of this 40-year ban with ITC extension for solar (PTC for wind) is truly a win-win for both oil producers and renewable/solar producers of USA alike. It has passed both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, with the final Senate vote being 65-33. This was the final vote needed before the bill will be signed by U.S. President Obama (who supports it).
Various studies (GTM Research indicating that 25 GW of additional PV will be put online. IHS: this will prevent the first annual decline in the global solar industry in over a decade, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, etc.) have shown that ITC extension will dramatically increase the amount of solar installed in the USA by 2020.
In a SEIA/Bloomberg report, without the extension of ITC amounts to an additional 69 GW (gigawatts) of solar deployment between 2016 and 2022,
SEIA’s analysis of data using NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)’s JEDI (Jobs and Economic Development Impacts) model and BNEF (Bloomberg New Energy Finance)’s data covering the ITC (Investment Tax Credit)’s impact on jobs and economic investment between 2015-2022. (credit: SEIA, NREL, BNEF)
solar industry stands to lose 80,000 jobs (Solar jobs derived from NREL’s Jedi model represent demand-side jobs-years, not comparable to the Solar Foundation’s job census which accounts both demand and supply-side jobs and uses a different methodology. For more information please click: ) http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/jedi/ and http://www.thesolarfoundation.org/solar-jobs-census/ ) in 2017 and an additional 20,000 jobs in related affected industries, for a total loss of 100,000 American jobs. With the ITC extension, it would yield 61,000 more solar jobs in 2017 and 58,000 more jobs in 2021, etc. It is projected that the total solar investment in the US economy between 2016-2022 will be more than $124 billion, $39 billion more than if the ITC expires.
Truly, the ITC extension will provide solar businesses the regulatory certainty to invest in their operations and hire new employees. Who’d thought that it is a result of negotiating from lifting a 40-year ban on oil export?! Solar For Oil! It is truly a time of Miracle On Pennsylvania Avenue! The longer I am alive, the more I have to believe in Miracles….how can one not :)….
~have a bright and sunny day~
Gathered, written, photographed & photoblended, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
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~have a bright and sunny day~
gathered, written, photographed, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
Any comments and suggestions are welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com
You may also be interested in these posts from the past, below:
100% Electric Vehicle and 100% Solar By 2030
Discussion of the Importance of Value of Solar With Karl Rabago
Expanded Discussion of Value of Solar
In-Depth Analysis of Renewable Energy Policy With Toby D. Couture
“Solar Tsunami” Shared by the Effervescent Professor Jose Cordeiro of Singularity University During World Future Society 2014
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www.sunisthefuture.net
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www.kiva.org/team/sunisthefuture
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