Wind Energy Tax Credits


State

Alternative Energy Loan Program

The Alternative Energy Revolving Loan Program (AERLP) was established by the 57th Montana Legislature in Senate Bill 506 and amended in 2005. Its purpose is to provide a financing option to Montana homeowners, small businesses, non-profits and government entities to install alternative energy systems that generate energy for their own use. Loans can be made up to a maximum of $40,000 (subject to available funds), and may be repaid in up to ten years, depending on the loan amount. Interest rates are set annually and are fixed for the term of the loan. The interest rate for 2008 is 5 percent. More...

Federal

Renewable Energy Production Incentive (REPI)

The federal Renewable Energy Production Incentive (REPI) provides incentive payments for electricity produced and sold by new qualifying renewable energy facilities. Qualifying systems are eligible for annual incentive payments of 1.5¢ per kilowatt-hour (in 1993 dollars and indexed for inflation) for the first 10-year period of their operation, subject to the availability of annual appropriations in each federal fiscal year of operation.  

Section 202 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 ( H.R. 6 ) reauthorized appropriations for fiscal years 2006 through 2026 and expanded the list of eligible technologies and facilities owners. See the link to 42 USC § 13317, provided above, for details.  

Eligible electric production facilities include not-for-profit electrical cooperatives, public utilities, state governments, Commonwealths, territories, possessions of the United States, the District of Columbia, Indian tribal governments, or a political subdivision thereof and Native Corporations. The production payment applies only to the electricity sold to another entity.  

Qualifying systems must generate electricity using solar, wind, geothermal (with certain restrictions), biomass,* landfill gas, livestock methane, or ocean (including tidal, wave, current, and thermal) generation technologies. Fuel cells using hydrogen derived from eligible biomass facilities are also eligible. More...

Business Energy Tax Credit

Commercial, industrial, and utility entities are eligible for a corporate tax credit for wind, solar and other renewable energy systems. The credit equals 30% for solar. More...

Economic Stimulus Act Extends Renewable Energy Tax Credits

The tax section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides a three-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC) for most renewable energy facilities, while offering expansions on and alternatives for tax credits on renewable energy systems. The extension keeps the wind energy PTC in effect through 2012, while keeping the PTC alive for municipal solid waste, qualified hydropower, and biomass and geothermal energy facilities through 2013. The PTC provides a credit for every kilowatt-hour produced at new qualified facilities during the first 10 years of operation, provided the facilities are placed in service before the tax credit's expiration date. For 2008, biomass facilities fueled with dedicated energy crops ("closed-loop biomass"), as well as wind, solar, and geothermal energy facilities earned 2.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, while other qualified facilities earned 1 cent per kilowatt-hour.

Homes and businesses also will benefit under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides greater tax credits for clean energy projects at homes and businesses and for the manufacturers of clean energy technologies. For homeowners, the act increases a 10% tax credit for energy efficiency improvements to a 30% tax credit, eliminates caps for specific improvements (such as windows and furnaces), and instead establishes an aggregate cap of $1,500 for all improvements placed in service in 2009 and 2010 (except biomass systems, which must be placed in service after the act is enacted). The act also tightens the energy efficiency requirements to meet current standards. For residential renewable energy systems, the act removes all caps on the tax credits, which equal 30% of the cost of qualified solar energy systems, geothermal heat pumps, small wind turbines, and fuel cell systems. The act also eliminates a reduction in credits for installations with subsidized financing. See also this link on Wikipedia.

For more information on tax incentives, see:

 

 

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