Billions in green for green industries in bailout plan

Wind and solar-power advocates celebrated Friday as President Bush signed a financial bailout package that included incentives for companies producing energy from renewable sources like the sun and wind.

The incentives may pay big dividends for Massachusetts, which has invested heavily in green tech.

According to an AP story posted at Boston.com, one of the incentives is an 8-year extension of investment tax credits for solar energy, as well as tax breaks for wind and other alternative energy sources.

“This bill is a major step in our long journey toward energy independence and ensures that solar energy will be a significant part of America’s energy future,” Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association said in a statement posted on the trade group's web site after the bill was approved by the House of Representatives. “This long-term extension of the solar tax credits will create a domestic solar industry with hundreds of thousands of jobs, while providing clean, affordable, carbon-free energy to millions of American families, businesses, and communities.”

An investment tax credit, which benefits solar projects, and a production tax credit for wind were set to expire at the end of this year. Advocates had been pushing for their renewal, saying that without the credits, efforts to make renewable and alternative energy sources mainstream would suffer.

A few hours before the president signed the bill, the American Wind Energy Association emailed this statement, lauding politicians:

"We salute Members of Congress in both parties who fought under difficult conditions to keep the renewable energy production tax credit and small turbine investment tax credit on the agenda until the very end, and then pushed them across the finish line. These tax credits are essential to the continued growth of wind energy, to the economic and energy security of the United States, and to a successful beginning in the fight against global warming. We look forward to working next year with a new Congress and Administration to fashion a serious long-term clean energy policy that increases domestic energy, increases our reliance on clean renewable energy, and creates jobs for Americans.”