There are two categories of major solar changes and opportunities in the Stimulus package affecting Georgians:
1. Improved incentives for solar:
- Changing the investment tax credits to a rebate or grants from the US Treasury Dept for 30% of the cost of solar installations
- Adding 50% accelerated depreciation
- Adding the Section 179 Tax incentives for business with under $5M in revenue for up to $250,000 in incentives that can be wirtten off in 2009.
2. Federal energy efficiency and renewable energy projects
- Federal agencies (DOD, Dept of Education, Dept of Agriculture, DOE, HUD, EPA, etc)
- Federal agency, State projects ($50-$98M to GA, $190M for affordable housing) and cities (Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah)
Many states are positioned to take full advantage of federal incentives for “green” power development. To stay competitive, lawmakers and policy makers in Georgia need to consider the steps they must immediately take to create jobs and attract companies in this booming 21st century industry. We must act quickly to secure our sustainable economic future.
This year, GSEA is supporting lobbying and advocacy efforts for the Georgia State Legislature and the Georgia PSC to enact the following:
1. Support and pass HB 473 - a bill creating a pool of grants funds to be substituted for the State Clean Energy Tax Credit until such federal stimulus funds are depleted (HP 473 recently passed the Senate and House and is off to Governor Perdue's office for signature).
2. Remove the tax credit limitations or substantially increase cap (from $2.25M to $25M) on economic development incentives related to solar industries (to be revisited during the 2010 Legislative session).
3. Make tax credits more flexible for industry and individuals to use -for example, allow businesses the option to resell to improve the market value (to be revisited during the 2010 Legislative session).
4. Eliminate the sales tax on photovoltaic cells and solar thermal equipment (to be revisited during the 2010 Legislative session).
5. Support policy and legislation that removes or substantially increases current caps on PV Grid tied systems, removes Net Metering restrictions, and substantially increases PSC tariff support for PV and other renewables in order to create a viable Power Purchase Agreement business model in Georgia.
Need more incentive to act? Consider these facts:
- The sun is a local, abundant and renewable resource that we can harvest to transform our economy
- Solar is shovel ready - projects can be completed in days and weeks
- New environmental changes like a national Renewable Portfolio Standard are going to make solar even more affordable
- Solar can help with
- Solar can help with
