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Strategies for Gaining a Level Playing Field Strategies for Gaining a Level Playing Field Where We Are; What’s Working & What’s Not Mike Bergey AWEA Small.

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Presentation on theme: "Strategies for Gaining a Level Playing Field Strategies for Gaining a Level Playing Field Where We Are; What’s Working & What’s Not Mike Bergey AWEA Small."— Presentation transcript:

1 Strategies for Gaining a Level Playing Field Strategies for Gaining a Level Playing Field Where We Are; What’s Working & What’s Not Mike Bergey AWEA Small Wind Committee Bergey Windpower Co. mbergey@bergey.com mbergey@bergey.com

2 People Want Energy Alternatives Coal is too dirty, natural gas is too volatile, nuclear is too dangerous, and consumers feel trapped CA Residential Natural Gas

3 People Want Energy Alternatives “Please give me something that will lower my electric bills, will help the environment and that I can afford” 87-90% of Americans support increased use of wind and solar energy Yale Center for Environmental Law And Policy, June 9, 2005

4 Residential Wind Turbine Market  Utility bill reduction, no back-up capabilities  1+ acre lot size (with few exceptions)  DOE Class 3 wind resource or better (over 30% of inhabited U.S.)  State or utility subsidy program  ~ $ 10 million market in 2005

5 Broader Market Possible  Smaller lot sizes  DOE Class 2 wind resource or better (over 50% of the “inhabited” U.S.)  No or minimal subsidy  Holy Grail: Monthly payment for wind system ~ equal to utility bill savings

6 U.S. Market Potential: It’s Big!  Residential Electricity Consumption Exceeds Either Commercial or Industrial (35% of U.S. Sales in 1998)  20.6 Million Homes have 1 Acre or More  30.4 Million Homes have ½ Acre or More  4.6 Million Commercial Buildings  Estimated 50%+ are in Class 2 Winds or better Arthur D. Little, 1981: 3.8 Million Units Market Potential: Units (~ $120 B) 4 - 8 Million

7 U.S. Market Today: It’s Small!  Residential Wind: ~ $10 M  Residential Solar: ~ $ 300 M  Commercial Wind: ~ $3,000 M Why so Small ?

8 Why so Small ? Is it: 1.Products: Need more and better 2.Lack of Capital / Investment 3.Product Certification 4.Lack of Subsidies 5.Zoning / Permitting Obstacles

9 Why Aren’t There More Small Turbines  Equipment Costs too Much! (Low Production Volumes & Shortage of Subsidies)  Zoning / Permits: 35’ Height Restrictions in Residential Zones

10 New Technology is Lowering Costs New Technology is Lowering Costs  Advanced Airfoils  “Super-Magnet” Generators  Low Cost Manufacturing  Smart Power Electronics  Stealth: Very Low Noise US-DOE Advanced Small Wind Turbine Program + Industry Funded R&D 3D Solid Modeling Southwest 1.8 kW Bergey 50 kW

11 Volume Production will Drive Costs Down Significantly Small Wind as a New-Age Home Appliance … “ a ceiling fan on steroids”

12 The Chicken and Egg Dilemma: More people would buy small wind turbines if they cost less, but they won’t cost less until more people buy them Rebates and Tax Credits ! 91% of Americans support tax incentives for renewable energy CNN/USA Today Poll, May 9, 2001 Gallup Poll, Nov. 27, 2001

13 AWEA Federal Policy Priorities 1. Tax Credit of 30% 2. Small Projects Set-aside for USDA 9006 Rural Grants Program 3. Dept. of Energy Small Wind R&D Funding 4. National Annualized Net Metering 5. Tower Height Deregulation

14 Proposed Federal Tax Credit  No federal credit for small wind since 1985  Production Tax Credit (Section 45) doesn’t apply to, or help, small wind customers  Solar had permanent 10% Investment Tax Credit  New Credit Proposed in 108 th Congress: HR 790, Cole and S 759, Durbin – Now Expired  30% tax credit for residential and business installations of wind turbines up to 75 kW, no spending limits (790) or $1,000/kW (759)  Not included in HR 6, House Energy Bill  In 2003 and 2004 Senate Bills

15 2005 Energy Bill  2005 Senate Energy Tax Incentive Bill:  PTC extended, no reduction in terms  30% Residential Solar Credit, Capped at $2,000  30% Residential Fuel Cell Credit, Capped at $500/0.5 kW  30% Business Solar and Fuel Cell Credit, No Caps  Nothing for Small Wind!  $2,000 residential tax credit cap is severe limitation … won’t leverage a $40,000 home / farm system

16 2006 Federal Tax Credit Effort  H.R. 4716 (Cole): 30%, Residential & Business, up to 100 kW, No Caps, 5 Years  S. 2571 (Conrad): Multi-Faceted Bill, 30%, $1,000/kW Cap, 5 Years  Solar has bills (eg., HR 5206) to extend 30% credit to 2015 and raise cap on residential to $2,000/kW – wide support

17 2006 Federal Tax Credit Effort  Focused AWEA Legislative Effort Underwritten by 3 Firms: Bergey Windpower, Earth Turbines, & Southwest Windpower  AWEA hiring dedicated, full-time Small Wind Legislative Assistant  Senate Finance Cmte Ag Energy Bill Expected ~ August 2006 Federal Tax Credits for Japanese Solar Modules, But Not for American Small Wind Turbines - That’s Wrong !!!

18 AWEA State Policy Priorities 1. Rebate (Preferred) or Tax Credit of ~ 50% 2. Sales Tax Exemption 3. Property Tax Exemption 4. Annualized Net Metering 5. Tower Height Deregulation

19 State Leadership  California: $2.50/W to 7,500 W – then $1.50/W; Rebate decline reversed in 2006 after heavy lobbying  Massachusetts: New rebates at $2.25 - $3.75/W; fast growth  Vermont: Grants of ~ $2.00/W; Limited funding  New York: Rebates of 50% (higher for farms and schools); Heavily bureaucratic

20 State Leadership  Pennsylvania: DEP and Energy Harvest Program  New Jersey: 60% rebate; Suitable sites are rare & solar subsidies much higher  Pending:  Arizona: EPS Distributed Power  Oklahoma: 40% tax credit  NY, Long Island: Grant program

21 Market Clusters – Sales Lead to Sales Oak Hills, CA

22 Playing Field is NOT Level  Large Wind: Federal PTC equivalent to ~ 40% tax credit, for 12 of last 13 years  Solar: Federal tax credit, plus ~ 25 state, city, and utility programs that are “solar only” (eg., CO, ME, NM, NY, OR, IL, CT, CA (CSI))

23 Working with the Solar Industry Hasn’t Worked  The solar industry cares primarily about the solar industry  Politically, they don’t need us  Adding small wind raises the costs of their initiatives  Solar looks at large wind and says “wind has gotten enough”  The wind industry proponents of this “synergy” haven’t spent time in the political trenches

24 What Does Work ?  Piggybacking on solar initiatives – with separate lobbying  Duplicating solar incentives – “we should subsidize both technologies and let the market decide”  Energizing farm lobbying base  Finding legislative champions

25 What’s Needed  A Robust AWEA Small Wind Committee  A Windustry organized farmer / rural grassroots advocacy program  Small wind support from wind’s regional advocacy programs (eg, Western Resource Advocates)  State Legislative Monitoring Program

26 Small Wind Could be a Major New American Industry  American companies lead in small wind technology and market share  Danes lead in large wind, Japanese lead in solar – because those governments created robust domestic markets

27 It’s up to Us !


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