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Congress last month extended valuable tax credits to producers of electricity from wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels, a move that came as a relief to an industry that has experienced rapid growth in recent years.
A tax credit for wind power producers had lapsed almost a year ago, and the credit for solar power was scheduled to decline sharply at the end of 2016. Now, renewable electricity generators have several years of unprecedented stability: the renewed wind and solar power credits don’t expire until 2020 and 2022, respectively.
The extensions were finalized just days after 196 countries agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as part of a global effort to mitigate climate change. The White House hailed the extensions as an important step toward this goal.
Nearly 200 national governments have committed to make cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in an ambitious global deal. But the task will in many ways fall to cities, states and provinces. Indeed, one of the most striking ways the Paris climate summit differed from its predecessors was the engagement of subnational governments. Such “non-party” actors held many side-meetings at the summit to celebrate existing programs and make public commitments for further actions. But though they were not signers, they were fully embedded in the Paris Agreement itself:
The cost of deploying renewables across Australia is just a small proportion of electricity bills. By far the most significant component of electricity bills is network costs (40 to 50 per cent of bills) – that is, upgrading transmission and distribution infrastructure such as poles and wires to handle rising peak demand and replace old equipment.
Until a few years ago solar panels were a rare sight in South Africa, largely limited to the roofs of a few affluent households. This is changing rapidly, driven by three factors: the worldwide drive towards renewable energy, a highly strained local electricity supply, and a steady drop in solar panel prices. Taking the lead from other countries, South Africa committed to an energy generation infrastructure development plan for 2010 to 2030, known as the Integrated Resource Plan. Under the plan the country aims to achieve 9600 MW of solar power capacity by 2030. When the plan was drawn up in 2010, solar was limited to a few isolated panels on domestic rooftops, and until recently contributed nothing to the national power grid operated by the state-owned utility Eskom.
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