Will America become a solar country if the new energy bill is passed?
The newly introduced “Securing America’s Energy Independence Act” is giving lots of hope to the solar industry in America. It is indeed the largest solar energy legislation ever introduced in the United States.
If passed, it would boost solar energy investments by making them more affordable in all states. In the Southern States, solar energy investments could actually become so attractive that the industry could easily see in them its greatest market, ahead of Germany, Japan and Spain.
The new bill is to extend the 30 % federal solar investment tax credit, currently set to expire at the end of next year, until 2016, thus providing a longer period to plan investments (something the US renewable energy legislation has historically failed to provide). It also provide subsides of $1,500 per half-kW of capacity, and will remove the $2,000 cap for residential solar energy.
Whether the country finally passes the bill and therefore follows the President’s words of ending the country’s addiction to oil remains to be seen. If it does, the solar industry should be happy, for America would soon boost the installed capacity figures.
The country, with its Solar America Initiative, is already trying to make solar energy cost efficient and expects the technology to be competitive with conventional sources of energy by 2015. Should this bill be passed, this could happen even earlier.
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