Kerry bill would extend energy grants

The legislation, introduced late Thursday, is similar to a $25 billion tax package being considered in the House, said Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington-based policy analysis firm. Incentives in the bill would benefit renewable energy producers and equipment makers.

One provision would extend through 2012 a program that awarded almost $2 billion in grants last year for renewable energy projects, said Michael Eckhart, president of the American Council on Renewable Energy. The program is to expire this year.

“The renewable energy industry is facing a crisis, a market cliff at the end of the year,’’ Eckhart said in an Aug. 3 statement. “The impact of the financial crisis goes on, and if not addressed, the situation risks losing thousands of jobs that were just created.’’

The two-year extension would cost about $2.7 billion, Book said. The provision might be opposed by some Republicans and fiscally conservative Democrats, Book said.

The grant program passed Congress in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help ease the effect of the financial crisis on renewable-energy companies.

“In terms of raising the hackles of people who don’t want you to spend money, extending a one-time, once-in-a-lifetime benefit for two years is a big ask,’’ Book said in an interview.

The 2009 grants “helped stimulate nearly $9 billion of new investments by the private sector in renewable energy projects and created an estimated 72,000 jobs in the wind and solar industries,’’ said Pat Eilers, managing director of the Chicago-based investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners.

Kerry acted after the Senate failed to take up legislation to place a price on carbon emissions. Kerry’s measure also would extend tax credits for makers of appliances that use less energy and for contractors that build more energy-efficient homes.

“Senator Kerry is hopeful that energy tax provisions will be part of any energy package that moves this year,’’ Whitney Smith, the lawmaker’s spokesman, said in an e-mail. “His bill highlights key priorities for advancing clean energy and reducing carbon emissions.’’

Senate majority leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, dropped plans this week for a vote on energy legislation that responds to BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill after Republicans and some Democrats called the bill too harsh on companies not involved in the disaster.