ITC update: Omnibus appropriations bill includes long-term extension

SEIA’s Rhone Resch reports this morningan omnibus appropriations bill was filed by congressional leaders that provides a long-term extension of the solar investment tax credits (ITC).

“This bipartisan agreement represents a powerful victory for our industry and will provide a stable investment environment for the next 8 years,” Resch stated.

Hold your applause to the end of the article, because this is still not yet a done deal. But this is Congress, so you knew that. The House will vote on the bill as soon as Thursday and then the Senate. Resch implores the solar community to keep their foot on the gas (of this electric car, of course) and keep calling your representatives to make sure this goes through.

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Specifically, the bill will provide extensions for both section 48 and 25d over the following schedule:
• 2017 – 30%
• 2018 – 30%
• 2019 – 30%
• 2020 – 26%
• 2021 – 22%

The bill also modifies the tax code to allow for commence construction as long as the project is placed in service by Dec. 31, 2023 as well as keeping the permanent 10% in place for the commercial credit under Section 48.

Here are the specifics you can’t get enough of this news.

More from Resch:

Here are a few facts about what we think the extension will do: It will add thousands of jobs to our industry and with this extension, we can achieve our pledge of employing 50,000 veterans by 2020. It will lead to more than $125 billion in new, private sector investment in the U.S. economy. And much of this growth will come from small businesses, which make up more than 85 percent of America’s 8,000 solar companies. Solar power in this nation will triple by 2022, hitting 95 gigawatts. That’s enough to power 19 million homes and represents 3.5 percent of U.S. electricity generation – up from 0.1 percent in 2010. And the extension will offset 100 million metric tons of CO2 annually – equivalent to the emissions from 26 coal-fired power plants.

We will keep you posted.

— Solar Builder magazine

[source: http://solarbuildermag.com/news/itc-update-bill-includes-long-term-extension/]