Wednesday, July 25th 2012

Do Renewable Energy Tax Credits Actually Net Revenue for Governments? One group posits that the US’ federal Investment Tax Credit does.

 “such a hefty tax break – 30 percent of the cost of a system, with no maximum credit – must really end up costing the Treasury and adding to the country’s budget deficit, right?

Uh, no.

At least, not according to an analysis [PDF] from the the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance, which describes itself as “a coalition of senior level financiers who invest in all sectors of the energy industry, including renewable energy.”

In its new paper, the group calculates that in the increasingly common lease and power-purchase agreement scenarios, a $10,500 residential solar credit — the ostensible, approximate cost to the Treasury of a typical 5-kilowatt home system – “can deliver a $22,882 nominal benefit to the government.” Similary, a $300,000 commercial solar credit can mean $677,627 to the federal coffers.”

Click here to read more via Earth Techling.