President Obama endorsed an additional $5 billion for tax credits for manufacturers of clean energy products such as solar panels, wind turbines and advanced batteries. He cited the success of the tax credit program – which Senator Bingaman (D-NM) authored — in calling for an additional $5 billion for the program to spur economic growth and create jobs.
The bill expands ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allows qualified companies to write off 30 percent of the cost of creating, expanding, or re-equipping facilities to manufacture renewable energy technologies, like solar panels, wind turbines, and advanced batteries. That program has now leveraged over three times the amount of credits provided by the government.
“There is so much potential for clean energy manufacturing in our country that the first $2.3 billion in tax credits were exhausted in just a few months,” Bingaman said. “Today’s announcement will help put us on the path toward being the exporter to the world for clean energy technology. I applaud President Obama for taking this step to help us create jobs of the future,” Bingaman said.
Last week, Bingaman introduced the American Clean Technology Manufacturing Leadership Act (S. 2857) – a bipartisan bill that would have added an additional $2.5 billion in tax credits, enough to leverage $8.33 billion in new domestic investment. Bingaman chairs the Finance Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources & Infrastructure, and plans to convene a hearing in 2010 on tax incentives for energy manufacturing.
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