FUNDING COMMUNITY SUN

Bill would extend solar tax credits to solar farms
Samantha Abernethy, March 17, 2010 (AP via BusinessWeek)

"U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., …is introducing a bill in Congress to extend residential solar energy tax credits to community-based solar farm collectives.

"Current tax law allows homeowners to receive a 30 percent tax credit for installing solar panels on their property…[Udall’s] Solar Uniting Neighborhoods [SUN] Act -- would allow homeowners to receive tax credits for panels installed somewhere else. That would extend the credit to community-owned solar farms, where neighbors designate sunny, treeless areas for installation of community solar panels…"

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"Udall said this change would make the tax credit more accessible financially and logistically. The tax credit would run until 2016…"

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"The so-called SUN Act would be a logical amendment to the clean energy bill introduced in December by Sens. John Kerry, Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman, Udall said. The cost would be offset if the bill passes as part of a larger package.

"The Colorado-based Clean Energy Collective estimates a five-year cost of $117 million, but the Joint Committee on Taxation has not yet released an official estimate…Udall said this is one of a number of clean energy jobs initiatives he plans to roll out in the coming months."