We
interrupt this economic crisis to bring you some unexpectedly good news from
Wall Street: Last week, the Senate passed a bill designed to provide more than
$17 billion in renewable energy tax incentives, including a one-year extension
on wind credits and an eight-year extension on solar tax credits. In addition,
the new bill extends solar tax credits to utilities.
Not only
could this influx of cash help wind and solar companies, many analysts believe
that a commitment of this size and duration will allow the US to position itself
as a major player in the international solar and wind markets.
Jefferies
& Co. analyst Paul Clegg says, “in 2010 and beyond, we could see the US
develop into a key market force, as the impact of higher energy costs, a more
developed PV infrastructure, and stronger utility participation take hold.”
“The
inclusion of utilities for the commercial credit should spur additional
large-scale installations, further driving demand for low-cost thin film and
high-efficiency solar PV," Piper Jaffray analyst Jesse Pichel wrote in a client
note.
While
distributed energy involves more than just the token solar installation or “blue
moon” fuel cell system, the effects of this type of large-scale investment are
widespread. If nothing else, these tax credits create an opportunity for those
in the onsite power market to capitalize on distributed energy’s potential to
move beyond emergency backup systems and “green”-tinged vanity projects to
become a major force in a variety of energy-efficient
projects.