{"id":647644,"date":"2012-10-18T13:48:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/serkadis.com\/index\/?guid=3202549a51f07224a7f7241399b2a950"},"modified":"2012-10-18T13:48:50","modified_gmt":"2012-10-18T17:48:50","slug":"renewable-energy-law-news-week-of-october-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/647644","title":{"rendered":"Renewable Energy Law News – Week of October 15"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo via Flickr<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Obama Administration Approves Roadmap for Utility-Scale Solar Energy Development on Public Lands<\/a><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama\u2019s all-of-the-above energy strategy to expand domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today finalized a program for spurring development of solar energy on public lands in six western states. The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for solar energy development provides a blueprint for utility-scale solar energy permitting in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah by establishing solar energy zones with access to existing or planned transmission, incentives for development within those zones, and a process through which to consider additional zones and solar projects. <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s action builds on the Administration\u2019s historic progress to facilitate renewable energy development. On Tuesday, with the authorization of the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project site in Wyoming, Interior reached the President\u2019s goal of authorizing 10,000 megawatts of renewable power on public lands. Since 2009, Interior has authorized 33 renewable energy projects, including 18 utility-scale solar facilities, 7 wind farms and 8 geothermal plants, with associated transmission corridors and infrastructure. When built, these projects will provide enough electricity to power more than 3.5 million homes, and support 13,000 construction and operations jobs according to project developer estimates. <\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy from sources like wind and solar have doubled since the President took office, and with today\u2019s milestone, we are laying a sustainable foundation to keep expanding our nation\u2019s domestic energy resources,\u201d said Secretary Salazar, who signed today\u2019s Record of Decision at an event in Las Vegas, Nevada with Senator Harry Reid. \u201cThis historic initiative provides a roadmap for landscape-level planning that will lead to faster, smarter utility-scale solar development on public lands and reflects President Obama\u2019s commitment to grow American made energy and create jobs.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Solar PEIS establishes an initial set of 17 Solar Energy Zones (SEZs), totaling about 285,000 acres of public lands, that will serve as priority areas for commercial-scale solar development, with the potential for additional zones through ongoing and future regional planning processes. If fully built out, projects in the designated areas could produce as much as 23,700 megawatts of solar energy, enough to power approximately 7 million American homes. The program also keeps the door open, on a case-by-case basis, for the possibility of carefully sited solar projects outside SEZs on about 19 million acres in \u201cvariance\u201d areas. The program also includes a framework for regional mitigation plans, and to protect key natural and cultural resources the program excludes a little under 79 million acres that would be inappropriate for solar development based on currently available information.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Photo via Flickr<\/a><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Wind Energy Jobs, PTC Surface At Second Presidential Debate <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

The first presidential debate came and went without mention of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC) and hardly any discussion of renewables. The story was quite different, however, at the second debate between President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, held Tuesday night at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.<\/p>\n

In fact, energy was arguably one of the most contentious issues of the night, and sparked heated disputes between the two candidates, who traded jabs on policies that – as described Tuesday night – did not differ all that much.<\/p>\n

Obama has said he favors an “all of the above” energy approach, including oil, gas, wind, solar and biofuels – a position he stated in the first presidential debate and reiterated Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to control our own energy, you know – not only oil and natural gas, which we\u2019ve been investing in – but also, we\u2019ve got to make sure we\u2019re building the energy sources of the future,\u201d he said at Tuesday\u2019s debate. \u201cNot just thinking about next year, but 10 years from now, 20 years from now. That\u2019s why we\u2019ve invested in solar and wind and biofuels, energy-efficient cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

And despite the virtual absence of renewables from Romney\u2019s official energy plan, released in August, this time, the former Massachusetts governor also expressed support for clean energy like wind and solar power.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I want to make sure we use our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe very much in our renewable capabilities – ethanol, wind [and] solar will be an important part of our energy mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the first debate, neither candidate mentioned the jobs being lost in the wind energy supply chain due to the looming expiration of the PTC.<\/p>\n

The PTC\u2019s omission from the first debate may have seemed glaring to some in the wind industry, considering that the president had made the critical tax credit a cornerstone of his campaign efforts in Iowa and Colorado – two states that have lost hundreds of wind energy jobs over the past few months.<\/p>\n

This time, however, Obama came out swinging against Romney, who has stated he would let the PTC expire at the end of this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m not for is us ignoring the other half of the quotation,\u201d Obama said, referring to renewables. \u201cSo for example, on wind energy, when Gov. Romney says these are \u2018imaginary jobs,\u2019 when you\u2019ve got thousands of people right now in Iowa, right now in Colorado who are working, creating wind power, with good-paying manufacturing jobs – and the Republican senator in that, in Iowa, is all for it, providing tax credits to help this work – and Gov. Romney says, \u2018I\u2019m opposed; I\u2019d get rid of it\u2019 – that\u2019s not an energy strategy for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romney refuted the claims, saying he does, in fact, support wind jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a policy of stopping wind jobs in Iowa, and they\u2019re not phantom jobs – they\u2019re real jobs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate wind jobs in Iowa and across our country,\u201d he added. \u201cI appreciate the jobs in coal and oil and gas. I\u2019m going to make sure that taking advantage of our energy resources will bring back manufacturing to America. We\u2019re going to get through a very aggressive energy policy, 3.5 million more jobs in this country.\u201d <\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

Louisiana’s Solar Tax Credit Under Review <\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Louisiana, USA — The Louisiana Department of Revenue weighed the future benefits of solar energy at a public hearing last week in Baton Rouge. Homeowners in Louisiana can choose solar-generated electricity and realize a 50-percent, one-time, refundable, state income tax credit for the purchase and installation of the system under provisions of the Wind and Solar Energy Systems Tax Credit created by state legislation in 2007.<\/p>\n

Louisiana\u2019s investment in this incentive program is something the solar energy industry does not want to see fade away.<\/p>\n

Nearly 100 people, from all over the state and nation, filed into the hearing room to shed some light on LDR\u2019s rules for the Income Tax Credits for Wind or Solar Energy Systems. <\/p>\n

The solar power industry generated more than just energy that day as more than a dozen people registered to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears there was a lot of interest,\u201d said Byron Henderson, press secretary for the Department of Revenue, \u201cThis is just a public hearing on proposed rule changes for the tax credits on the wind and solar energy systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tucker Crawford, co-owner of a Louisiana-based solar energy company and president of the Gulf States Renewable Energy Industries Association \u2013 which is a non-profit, trade organization that represents solar and renewable energy firms in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama\u2013 told the committee that the entire Louisiana solar industry has far exceeded the state\u2019s initial estimates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a good thing to Louisiana energy consumers,\u201d Crawford said. \u201cIn 2007, Louisiana only had five licensed solar installers. Today, we have 196 and counting; many of them are represented here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crawford said that the 2007 state law \u2013 which allowed income tax credits for wind or solar energy systems purchased and installed by taxpayers to cut costs on their homes or buildings \u2013 has created local jobs, increased the state\u2019s energy independence and reduced or eliminated utility bills for more than 3,100 Louisiana households.<\/i><\/span>
<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo via Flickr Obama Administration Approves Roadmap for Utility-Scale Solar Energy Development on Public Lands WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama\u2019s all-of-the-above energy strategy to expand domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today finalized a program for spurring development of solar energy on public lands in six western states. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7826,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-647644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7826"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}