I’ve already written a few times this year about the pending renewal of the solar tax rebates and incentives. I remember the glaring optimism I felt in April when things were really looking up. After all, the subject of renewable energy has broad bipartisan support these days. So why, just a few months later, do I find myself writing with growing apprehension about the rebates’ expiration?

I’m not sure…exactly. I do know that it’s getting rather late in the game for solar energy investors. The expiration of the existing credits would have a huge impact on the solar industry, and we’re already starting to see the first signs of that as speculators start to backpedal. According to a detailed Navigant report, failure to renew the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) could cost 39,400 solar jobs and $8.1 billion in investments through 2009.

It is numbers like these that are invoking the first beads of sweat on solar investors’ foreheads, and for good reason. The odds of getting a new project underway before the December 31 deadline grow more slim daily. So investors and companies alike are starting to wind down and “watch the clock.”

Yet there is a ray of hope.

That same bill I wrote about in April, now the Foreclosure Prevention Act, has finally passed both the Senate and House. And, as of July 29, has been handed to President Bush to be signed. But will he sign it? One thing George Bush has made clear is that he is not afraid to use his veto power. He’s used it to muscle more than a few bills right out of existence. Yet, I think, this one will be difficult to discard. The foreclosure crisis is a high priority and may carry our long-awaited energy tax credits along with it to fruition.

Fingers crossed.

Posted on July 31st in Solar News by Dan.