Contact:
Angel Brownawell
202-682-1700, ext. 14
WASHINGTON DC (May 1, 2007) The country’s success in building a strong, synergistic renewable industry rests solely on federal and state policies that recognize the importance of renewable energy, while aggressively supporting these industries with the right policies, the executive director of the National Hydropower Association said today at the release of the first-ever "Joint Outlook Report on Renewable Energy in America."
Linda Church Ciocci, NHA executive director, joined several other industry associations and energy leaders at the release of the report, a shared effort led by the American Council on Renewable Energy. The report helps communicate what renewable energy is capable of achieving, with the appropriate mix of policies and market-based incentives and standards.
“This report shows the importance of these technologies and the synergies of this industry, something that policy makers need to take a long hard look at as we build a new climate-friendly energy policy,” Church Ciocci said.
Hydropower is the largest provider of renewable energy in the country, generating about about 7 to 9 percent of the nation’s electricity. A recently announced report by the Electric Power Research Institute details the even greater potential of hydropower through the development of conventional and the new emerging technologies of ocean, tidal and hydrokinetic. The report estimates hydropower can add at least another 23,000 megawatts to the table by the year 2025, with the greater potential of nearly 90,000 meagwatts.
Reaching that level of greater generation, however, will not happen easily without the right blend of federal and local support of policies, tax incentives and research funding.
She added: “This reinvestment will require a strong federal commitment to long-term investment policy to support this development. It requires a long-term tax incentive (expanding and building on the production tax credit with a longer term placed-in-service date so that projects can be built within a reasonable time frame – one that allows for the necessary regulatory process and construction required for these types of projects. That means we need inclusion of new technologies in both production tax credits and Clean Renewable Energy Bonds and increase funding for the CREB program.
“It requires a significant new research, development, demonstration and deployment program. There is currently no program within the Department of Energy that supports the development of water power technologies, including both conventional and new emerging technologies. The emerging technologies of ocean, tidal and hydrokinetic are young industries – they deserve and need a federal support structure in order to develop sites and most particularly, test the technology and its impacts.”
The ACORE joint outlook report can be found at http://www.acore.org/theoutlook07.php
###
|
