By AUSTIN, TEXAS | News Release — Calling it a huge incentive tied to Texas jobs and economic prosperity, James D. Steffes, CEO of Circular Energy, included his signature on a letter to Texas Senator John Cornyn concerning extending the 30% Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for commercial and residential solar users.
Texas solar companies employ 7,000 workers and annually invest millions of dollars in solar projects across the state.
These companies and Texas solar workers would greatly benefit from legislation that extends these expiring provisions of the federal tax code.
In 2014, the state of Texas saw 129 MW of solar electric capacity installed, ranking it as one of the top ten states for solar power. The 330 MW of solar energy currently installed in Texas ranks the state 10th in the country in installed solar capacity. There is enough solar energy installed in the state to power 57,000 homes.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, average electricity rates have increased more than 20 percent in 10 years for commercial users, moving from $0.08/kWh to more than $0.10/kWh. Businesses in Texas are turning to solar power as a source of low-cost energy, and as a means to help them reduce fixed costs.
Deploying solar projects that can provide power on the utility and distributed generation scale requires a stable investment environment and steady, supportive federal policies. The ITC has been a major contributor to the rapid growth of the solar industry both nationally and in Texas.
The ITC has changed America for the better. The solar industry employs nearly 175,000 Americans, pumps $15 billion dollars a year into the US economy, and offsets more than 20 million metric tons of damaging carbon emissions. $66 billion dollars has been invested in solar installations nationwide since 2006.
Circular Energy supports extending the 30% Solar Investment Tax Credit to ensure that the incredible economic growth and environmental improvements we’ve seen thanks to the solar energy industry do not taper off.
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