Pickens Enthusiastic About Renewable Components of Stimulus Bill

Articles — By forcechange on February 23, 2009 8:23 am

One of the biggest private proponents of clean energy, T. Boone Pickens, has weighed in on the $787 billion stimulus bill and appears to be generally excited about its provisions.  In a letter to supporters of his Pickens Plan he highlighted the following provisions as being key to growing our wind energy capacity:

• A 3-year Production Tax Credit (PTC) extension through the end of 2012;

• An option to elect a 30% Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in place of the PTC;

• An option to convert the Investment Tax Credit into a grant for projects placed in service in 2009, or 2010, or placed in service before 2013 provided construction begins in 2009 or 2010;

• A new $6 billion Department of Energy renewable energy and transmission loan guarantee program, which should fund around $60 billion in principal amount of guaranteed loans;

• Authority for the Western Area Power Administration to borrow up to $3.25 billion from the Treasury to build renewable transmission lines in the western United States, including western Texas.

It is clear from the above list that Pickens has made some significant progress on the wind energy half of his Plan.  However, his more controversial natural gas proposals were not directly addressed by the stimulus.