The recently passed federal budget bill extended production tax credits for clean, renewable energy. The tax credits help renewable energy compete with fossil fuel sources.
Before leaving for the holidays, Congress passed a $1.15 trillion fiscal year 2016 spending bill to keep the government funded through September of 2016. The budget included an extension of the wind production tax credit and the solar investment tax credit for five years. The tax credits are expected to lead to around 37 additional gigawatts of renewable energy installations.
The extension is one reason the Washington Post reported that “wind and solar power appear set for a record-breaking year in 2016 as a clean-energy construction boom gains momentum in spite of a global glut of cheap fossil fuels.”
Businesses and investors need predictable and stable federal policy to create jobs and realize economic and environmental benefits. The wind production tax credit and the solar investment tax credit are just two of the bipartisan provisions that have been proven successful.
These tax credits will help build the economy, create jobs and keep the U.S. competitive in the global renewable energy technology race.
WORC and the member groups have advocated for federal renewable energy tax credits for over a decade as a common sense step away from our dependence on an unstable, unclean fossil fuel supply, and toward a new energy future. Read more about WORC’s work on clean, renewable energy.
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