Editorial

Tax breaks for wind costly, unnecessary

Make guaranteed renewable energy payments to producers

By Kris Alman and Jody Wiser

The Portland Tribune, Dec 31, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (11 Reader comments)

Some believe that by giving tax credits to fund the purchase and installation of wind, solar and other renewable energy, human services and education programs will be short changed.

L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO

“Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we ourselves could have wished,” Don Quixote boasted as he tilted toward windmills.

Fortune could be our misfortune if more Oregon citizens aren’t conscripted as soldiers for clean energy.

The Renewable Portfolio Standard, or RPS, is the barometer most states have implemented to set goals and measure how well they are responding to clean energy targets and energy independence.

Oregon’s RPS mandates that the largest utilities produce 25 percent of their electricity from new renewable energy sources by 2025.

Oregon has chosen to stimulate the production of renewable energy primarily through the Business Energy Tax Credit, giving tax credits to fund the purchase and installation of wind, solar and other renewable energy systems.

The tax credits are used also for energy conservation and recycling projects. In 2006, renewable energy projects received only a 1 percent share of total Business Energy Tax Credit dollars. That share will drastically increase because of legislative amendments passed in 2007 and 2008.

One amendment increased credits from 35 percent of a project’s cost to 50 percent for energy producing projects, while increasing the cap from $3.85 million to $11 million per project.

These tax breaks have been successful. With nearly 4,000 megawatts to be generated from pending and newly operating wind farms, Oregon will increase more than eight-fold the wind energy produced in 2006. Similarly, the Oregon Department of Energy estimates a four- to eight-fold increase in business solar systems.

So what could possibly be wrong with Business Energy Tax Credit?

The tax credits are costing the state twice as much as projected when the Legislature most recently passed the amendments just 10 months ago.

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit