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Energy Legislation
IDEA is advocating the following
legislative initiatives:
On June 27, 2007, the House of Representatives’ Committee on
Energy and Commerce approved a package of energy bills, including “Committee
Print #1” which incorporates the
Sustainable Infrastructure Revolving Fund
and
Waste Heat Recycling Incentives.
See House Energy and Commerce for more
information about Committee action in June.
If you would
like to contact your Representative or Senator regarding energy legislation,
click on
How You Can Get Involved
for guidance.
For further information click on the
highlighted buttons above, or contact:
Mark Spurr, IDEA Legislative Director
Phone: (612) 607-4544
Fax: (612) 338-3427
Email: mspurr@fvbenergy.com
Sustainable Energy Institutional Infrastructure Act of 2007
Subtitle F of the Energy and Commerce
Committee Print #1 (Sustainable Energy Institutional Infrastructure Act of 2007)
was proposed by the IDEA. This Subtitle establishes a revolving loan program for
investments in (1) production of energy from combined heat and power or
renewable energy sources and (2) distribution of thermal energy to users. This
funding will be available to universities, colleges, hospitals, airports,
municipalities, public school districts, federal agencies and other entities
established to meet public purposes.
Funds would be loaned at an interest rate equal to the federal cost of funds
less 1.5 percent (about 3.2 percent at current rates) for terms up to 20 years.
Payments can be deferred for three years, if desired by the borrower. Until the
year 2018, loan payments would be ‘recycled’ to provide funding assistance to
other institutions. Starting in 2018, loan payments would go directly into the
U.S. Treasury.
This Act authorizes $2.3 billion in appropriations over five years, is projected
to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 300 million tons and save over 3
quadrillion Btu by 2040, while making a $1.25 billion net contribution to the
U.S. Treasury – helping reduce the U.S. budget deficit. This calculation does
not take into account the economic stimulus impact of the program, which is now
being analyzed.
IDEA’s progress on this legislation is a testament to the efforts of the many
IDEA members who participated in signing on to support letters and/or contacting
their legislators directly via fax or in person. Many thanks to all of you! You
truly have made a difference.
Waste-Heat Recycling Incentives
Subtitle E of the Energy and Commerce Committee Print #1 encourages ‘recycling’
of waste heat to provide useful thermal or electrical energy. Key provisions
include:
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Establishment of a waste-energy inventory by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and state energy offices to survey and register major combustion sources
for quantity and quality of waste heat.
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Creation of a Waste-Energy Recovery Incentive Grant Program to provide incentive
payments of $10 per megawatt-hour of electricity or $2.93 per MMBtu of thermal
energy produced from waste-energy recovery projects. This grant program is
authorized $900 million in appropriations over five years.
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For
sales of excess power, states may require long-term contracts from utilities,
retail wheeling or the construction of private wires.
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The
Combined Heat and Power Application Centers are renamed Clean Energy Application
Centers and are authorized $50 million in appropriations over five years to
encourage deployment of clean energy technologies through education and outreach
to building and industrial professionals.
House
Energy and Commerce
On
Wednesday, June 27, 2007, the Committee on Energy and Commerce
met in a markup session. The Committee considered the
following Committee prints related to energy legislation that
were approved by the Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality:
Committee Print #1,
To promote greater energy efficiency;
Committee Print #2,
To facilitate the transition to a smart electricity grid;
Committee Print #3,
To clarify the amount of loans to be guaranteed under title
XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005;
Committee Print #4,
To promote the development of renewable fuels infrastructure;
Committee Print #5,
To promote advanced plug-in hybrid vehicles and vehicle
components; and
Committee Print #6,
To enhance availability of energy information.
Click here for an outline of all Committee Prints.
Committee
Print #1 was ordered favorably reported to the House with a
number of amendments. None of the amendment had substantive
impacts on the provisions of interest to the district energy
industry (Subtitles E and F). Details of the amendments may
be found at:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://energycommerce.house.gov
Combined Heat and Power Investment Tax Credit
In April,
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and 12 bipartisan cosponsors introduced
H.R.
2001,
Industrial Cogeneration Act of 2007. This bill would modify Section 48 of the
Internal Revenue Code to provide a 10 percent investment tax credit for
qualified cogeneration or CHP systems with a generating capacity up to 50 MW. In
contrast to previous versions of this legislation, which had limited
applicability to facilities less than 15 MW, this bill is consistent with IDEA
recommendations.
A 15 MW
version of the CHP investment tax credit was proposed in the
Senate but was stripped out of the Renewable Fuels, Consumer
Protection and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 (S.
1419)
along with all other tax provisions. Congressional leaders
have signaled their intent to bring the deleted tax provisions
into a final energy bill for consideration in a House-Senate
conference committee. If this does occur, IDEA will be seeking
to modify the CHP investment tax credit to raise the ceiling
to 50 MW.
Renewable Thermal Production
Tax Credit
In May,
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; and
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., introduced
S. 1370,
Clean Energy Investment Assurance Act of 2007. This bill
provides a five-year extension and modification of the
renewable production tax credit to include thermal energy
production (currently, the credit is limited to renewable
electricity generation). The tax credit would be expanded
to allow a credit for either the production of thermal energy
(heat in the form of hot water or steam, or cooling in the
form of chilled water, ice or other media) or the production
of electricity. This would provide an incentive to invest in
facilities that use renewable energy sources to produce
thermal energy but not electricity. Such district energy
facilities can provide significant efficiency gains for
heating and cooling buildings, displacing peak electricity
demands on the local grid and enhancing fuel flexibility.
This bill
was referred to the Senate Finance Committee but was not
incorporated into the Senate energy tax discussed above under
“Combined Heat and Power Investment Tax Credit.”)
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