Solar Power Industry Calls for Tax Credits
Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released a report recently at a Capitol Hill briefing in Washington.
Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released a report recently at a Capitol Hill briefing in Washington. The report, titled "Our Solar Power Future: The U.S. Photovoltaic Industry Roadmap for 2030 and beyond," calls for sustained, annually declining tax credits for solar deployment on businesses. It also proposes modifying the Production Tax Credit to include solar power, establishing uniform net metering and interconnection standards, boosting federal procurement of solar power to $100 million per year, and supporting state initiatives that promote solar power. In addition, the report calls for increasing the U.S. investment in solar power research and development to $250 million per year by 2010 while supporting higher-risk, longer-term research.
According to SEIA, the United States has lagged behind Europe and Japan in solar industry manufacturing and deployment. The proposed actions would lower retail solar electricity prices from the current rate of 18 to 25 cents per kilowatt-hour to 5.7 cents per kilowatt-hour in 10 years, making solar the least-cost retail option. Solar would provide half of all new electricity generation by 2025 under this scenario, creating 60,000 solar industry jobs in the United States and drawing more than $34 billion in new manufacturing investments over the next 10 years. SEIA claims the U.S. solar industry could employ 260,000 people by 2030.
For more information, go to http://www.seia.org.
Related Topics:
