Oregon’s Energy Tax Credits Under Fire

State lawmakers target energy tax credit costs
Benefit to large wind-power projects is likely to be reduced
By Nick Budnick – The Bulletin – September 3, 2009

Lawmakers and state regulators plan to put new restrictions on a state tax credit that has helped Central Oregon’s renewable energy businesses.

Lawmakers for the Senate and House revenue committees met last week in Salem to discuss the state’s budget picture, including the business energy tax credit, or BETC, which encourages investment in alternative energy, recycling and energy conservation measures.

Lawmakers were told that the tax credit is estimated to cost the state $168 million over the next two years. That’s a jump of $24 million over the previous estimate, and about $100 million more than it cost the state in the last two-year budget cycle.

Earlier this year, lawmakers had tried to curb the tax credit, shaving about $20 million by limiting the benefit provided to large wind-power projects.

But that legislation, House Bill 2472, was vetoed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

Now, however, legislative observers think lawmakers will muster the two-thirds supermajority necessary to override Kulongoski’s veto when they return to Salem for an expected special session in February.

Solar: A Rich Man Only Renewable Energy?

The very last sentence of this article notes that the “Oregon legislature is currently considering a five-year pilot program to try out the [feed-in tariff] model.”  This is potentially good news but until Oregon and all other states adopt a system where energy can be sold to utility companies at a rate that is high enough to make all sizes of solar installations “profitable”,  like Germany for example, solar will continue to lag behind wind and other renewable energy sources.

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Is Solar Power Only A Rich Man’s Renewable Source?
By Rob Manning – OPB News – June 8, 2009

Turning energy from the sun into electricity is one of the keys to saving the earth, according to renewable power advocates, and if solar is going to take off in the Northwest, it will mean re-shaping our relationship with energy.

Solar energy is considered an intermittent resource, although one of the more predictable ones, since you know it produces electricity only when the sun is up.

And solar is about as renewable as it gets – when the sun comes up, the rays get captured in panels and converted into energy.

Even factoring in the cost of producing the panels, solar energy is several times more efficient than fossil fuels. And unlike wind — which can kill birds — or hydro — which can kill fish — there’s no known collateral damage from solar installations.

But right now, solar doesn’t even register as one of the seven biggest sources of electricity in Oregon.

Home Energy Efficiency Upgrade Tax Incentives

New tax credits: What’s out there?
Energy efficiency upgrades can be pricey, but incentives may cover 40 to 60 percent
By Kate Ramsayer - The Bulletin - April 25, 2009

After a winter of paying high heating bills but still living in a chilly house, Tania Piper and Colin Mahood, of Bend, decided to see what they could do to make their house less drafty.

“I want our house to be efficient; I don’t want to be wasting our money or wasting resources,” Piper said. “So for me, it was obvious that it was something that needed to be a priority.”

They hired a company to do a series of tests to find the home’s problem spots and received a list of improvements that would help make the house more airtight, like adding insulation in the floors and sealing leaks around ducts — work that came with a price tag of more than $2,000. But with federal and state tax credits and power company incentives, that cost was cut by more than half.

Sanyo Solar to Build Solar Ingot Factory in Salem – How About Bend?

The three newspaper articles below clearly report that, although generous incentives were major selling points, other key reasons for Sanyo Solar of Oregon to build their plant near Salem were “relatively cheap power and a good, affordable work force”.  Bend / Central Oregon can claim the same advantages.

Sanyo chose about 20 acres of vacant city-owned property at 5475 Gaffin Road SE for its new plant. Salem wants to turn 79 acres along Gaffin Road into a renewable energy and technology park.

City and economic development officials hope the solar cell plant will encourage other energy companies and their suppliers to locate here.  At a special meeting of Salem City Council , councilors approved a ground lease and purchase agreement with Sanyo for the Gaffin Road location. Sanyo will pay about $1.74 million for the 19.77 acres.

Councilors also signed off on enterprise zone tax breaks for Sanyo, which provide tax abatement on new construction and equipment. They agreed to extend the standard three-year enterprise zone tax break to five years.

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Are Small Solar Firms at Risk?

Comments coming soon.

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Amid Boom, Concerns at Small Solar Firms
Small-Scale Contractors Benefit From Interest in Solar Power
By Jan Ellen Spiegel- New York Times – September 24, 2008

Solar power is in the midst of a boom in the United States. High energy costs are one reason. But what may be more important are generous state and power company incentives and rebates, as well as tax credits that make solar systems affordable to many more people and businesses.

This surge has, in turn, created hundreds, if not thousands, of small businesses, mostly contractors and installers.

They are people like Glenn Barresi, an electrician in South Windsor, Conn., who got into the solar installation business in 2005, about a year after Connecticut instituted one of the most generous rebate programs in the country. His company, Solarbrite, has grown from two employees — Mr. Barresi and his father — to more than a half dozen. But, he said, if the rebates go away, “I’m out of business.”

While industry groups and experts are not predicting a bust, they are raising concerns that growth is about to be tempered. The solar power industry is experiencing growing pains over how power is financed and distributed. In the end, larger companies may gain the upper hand, and the incentives could decrease or even disappear.

“I think probably what we’re going to see is the gradual disappearance of the very small one-, two-, three-person company that does everything,” said Dave Ljungquist, associate director of project development at the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

Bend’s PV Powered Lays Off Fewer Than 10

Unfortunately PV Powered suggested not that many months ago that they anticipated the possibility of a workforce of up to 600. 

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Bend Solar Industry Takes Hit From Congressional Inaction
By Ethan Lindsey – OPB News – August 18, 2008

Bend and Central Oregon boast of 300 days of sun per year. That number is unconfirmed, but the sunny weather has led to the growth of a burgeoning solar industry.

Now several of the region’s biggest solar companies are struggling — and they blame the federal government – and one has laid off some of its workers.

In May, Barack Obama stopped by to praise Bend-based PV Powered.

But now, chief executive Gregg Patterson says he had to lay off some of his company’s 60 employees – fewer than 10 workers. 

Patterson says a program that helped people switch to solar is in jeopardy.

The 30 percent Federal investment tax credit is set to expire in December.

Gregg Patterson: “I find it horribly ironic and paradoxical that at the same time we are struggling with energy independence, that the Congress and the current Administration can’t solve this issue.”

Mike Hewitt’s company, E2Powered, installs solar equipment.

He says the looming deadline has actually helped his sales – as people try to get in under the wire.

But Hewitt worries about the long-term.

The solar industry estimates it could lose $19 billion if it does expire.

Congress could pass the credit next month – but may wait until a new Administration takes over.

Residential Solar Systems Can Make Financial Sense

The following article is an excellent primer for any homeowner considering installing solar panels. It was especially interesting to note the understandable difference between household incomes and solar panel installations.  It makes common sense that people with higher than average incomes would own higher than average valued homes and would be those homeowners who would most likely be in the market for value-added enhancements like in-ground swimming pools AND rooftop solar electice systems.

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Home solar energy systems in (Central) Oregon become more cost-efficient
Gail Kinsey Hill – The Oregonian Staff – August 8, 2008

Rooftop solar electric systems often are associated with the rich or zealous — a green privilege.

But sky-high energy prices, a degraded environment and new aggressive government policies are changing the who and the why — so much that the field is getting level.

The incentives that come with installing solar-electric panels have never been greater. With tax breaks and cash grants, (Central) Oregon homeowners can slash the cost of a photovoltaic system by about 60 percent.

Still, a lot of numbers are in the price tag, and it’s a close call. Consumers need to know why they’d take the plunge before deciding whether a purchase makes economic as well as ideologic sense.

A 2-kilowatt rooftop system — the typical size for a Central Oregon family — carries a total cost of about $20,000. But state and federal incentives now can cut the out-of-pocket expense to $7,500.

If Eugene Can Do Solar, Why Not Bend?

There are dozens of medical offices, urban business parking lots, health care providers and gas stations in Bend that could easily erect solar carports at their businesses.  And Bend has – or claims to have – much more sunshine than Eugene yet the “wet side” Willamette Valley town has at least five solar carport projects to none in Bend. 

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Eugene parking lots get solar-power caps
By Diane Dietz – The Register-Guard - May 1, 2008

The solar energy explosion under way on business rooftops in Eugene is spilling out onto parking lots as firms erect free-standing solar carports to shield their employees and customers and give their companies extra electrical power.

Driven by generous incentives and tax credits, five solar carport projects sprang up in Eugene during the past few years. A medical office, an urban business parking lot, a health care provider and a gas station all have erected solar carports at their businesses.

The carports consist of photovoltaic arrays on slanted, rectangular roofs set on standard steel pillars. From six to 10 cars park between painted lines under each cover.

In California, banks of these free-standing solar carports cover open-air parking lots. They save energy by keeping cars cool — they need less air conditioning at midday to be bearable — and they generate energy to feed to the grid, or for other nearby purposes.