New Poll: Nearly All Americans Want Congress to Extend Clean Energy Tax Incentives

Extending Clean Energy Tax Credits Would Fulfill 25% of U.S. Paris Climate Agreement

A new survey released today shows that Americans overwhelmingly support extending tax incentives for clean energy and would change their vote based on the issue.

Leading Climate and Clean Energy Organizations Supporting Clean Energy Tax Incentives

Leading public opinion research firm Global Strategy Group (GSG) surveyed voters across the country, including in key battleground states and districts, and found that 89% of voters support extending clean energy tax incentives for solar, wind and energy storage. Voters overwhelmingly believe that these tax credits are not only an effective tool to combat climate change, but also benefit the economy and public health.

Support is overwhelming across all demographic and partisan groups, with 95% of Democrats, 86% of Independents and 83% of Republicans in favor. The poll also found that a candidate who supports extending clean energy tax credits sees up to a net 21-point boost relative to the generic ballot when matched against a candidate who opposes an extension.

"These are remarkable results," said Andrew Baumann, Senior Vice President at Global Strategy Group. "Not only to see such overwhelming cross-partisan consensus at such a polarized time, but to see how many voters would shift their vote based on the issue."

The findings complement a recent analysis by independent research firm Rhodium Group, which found that a robust clean energy tax package "could represent this Congress' largest opportunity to advance clean energy and reduce emissions," and that extending tax credits for solar and wind "could fill up to 25% of the gap between U.S. emissions under current policy and its Paris commitments."

Analysis conducted by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables similarly found that extending tax incentives for solar and other renewables will create more than 100,000 jobs, generate $87 billion in investment, and eliminate emissions equivalent to those of 93 coal plants.

ACORE
"This poll highlights the reality that clean energy is a clear political winner," said Gregory Wetstone, President and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). "Over 80% of Americans from across the political spectrum back clean energy tax incentives, and will support politicians who do the same. It's another good reason for Congress to include clean energy tax incentives in any must-pass legislation this year."

American Wind Energy Association
"We're thrilled to see such strong bi-partisan voter support for renewable energy, especially as we enter election season when their voices are important to be heard. Policies that help grow wind and solar have been a great investment for Americans, leading to well-paying jobs in all 50 states, significant new growth opportunities in farming and factory towns and coastal communities along the eastern seaboard, and affordable clean energy.

We hope members of Congress will heed their constituents' call to action and extend tax credits for onshore and offshore wind, putting the industry a step closer to tax policy parity with other energy sources as it helps champion efforts to alleviate climate change." Aaron Severn, Senior Director, Federal Affairs, American Wind Energy Association

Center for American Progress Action Fund
"Staving off our climate crisis requires that we take bold action to build a 100 percent clean future," said Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president of Energy and Environment at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. "Not only are investments in clean energy solutions like solar, wind, and battery storage popular with the American public, they can create good-paying jobs, reduce our climate impact, and protect communities from harmful pollution."

Environment America
"Americans want more clean energy because it just makes sense for our health, for clean air and water, and for the future of the planet," said Rob Sargent, Environment America's Clean Energy Program Director. "This poll shows why people from every part of the country are demanding swift action to keep up the momentum on renewable energy, energy efficiency and electric cars. We're counting on legislative leaders to act before they adjourn for the year."    

Environmental Defense Fund
"Americans overwhelmingly agree - tax incentives are a critical piece of the climate solutions puzzle.  We must seize this opportunity for bipartisan action that will cut pollution and promote clean energy entrepreneurship."  Elizabeth Gore, Senior Vice President, Political Affairs, Environmental Defense Fund

League of Conservation Voters
"This poll demonstrates once again that clean energy is wildly popular with people across the country," said Matthew Davis, League of Conservation Voters' Legislative Director. "These findings should put wind in the sails of Congressional leaders to update and extend critical tax incentives for wind, solar, and energy storage this year."

National Wildlife Federation
"Climate change is fueling severe storms, floods, fires and hurricanes — threatening people, wildlife and our way of life. We need to use every tool available to confront the climate crisis, including the tax code. This poll only underscores that Americans understand we need to invest in clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect wildlife before it's too late." Laura Daniel Davis, VP for Conservation Strategy, National Wildlife Federation

Sierra Club
"Clean energy tax credits are popular with Americans across the board because they bring hundreds of thousands of jobs nationwide while dramatically reducing the amount of harmful air, water and carbon pollution being produced in our communities. Congress should immediately seize this incredible economic, public health, and clean energy opportunity before the end of this year." Matthew Bearzotti, Deputy Legislative Director, Sierra Club

Solar Energy Industries Association
"This survey finds bipartisan public support for tax policy that injects billions of dollars in investment into the economy and creates tens of thousands of jobs," said Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. "The data clearly shows that candidates who take action to encourage improved air quality and address climate change will have a better chance of getting elected regardless of party affiliation."

Sunrun
"Clean energy incentives like the Investment Tax Credit have given millions of people across the country access to solar and fueled innovation on batteries that provide backup power and support reliability," said Alex McDonough, Sunrun's Vice President for Public Policy. "Solar is still less than 3% of our nation's energy supply - now is not the time to walk away from this important policy."

Union of Concerned Scientists
"The latest polling data from Global Strategy Group demonstrates enormous support for clean energy among the majority of voters in the 2020 election, regardless of their political affiliation. According to the poll, an astounding 89 percent of voters nationwide support federal tax incentives for solar, wind, and energy storage projects. A majority of voters feel such clean energy tax incentives will make a positive impact on public health, job creation, and the well-being of future generations – it's up to Congress to deliver on that potential by passing tax incentives for clean energy before years' end." Rob Cowin, Director of Government Affairs, Climate & Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists.

Survey Findings Memo Available here

Survey Slides Available here

Media Contact: Josh Rosenfeld | Jrosenfeld@kivvit.com | 212.929.0669

SOURCE Global Strategy Group

Editorial: California, don’t back down from your own rules requiring solar panels on new homes

So much for California’s groundbreaking policy of requiring solar panels on newly constructed homes. The mandate hasn’t even taken effect yet and utilities are already concocting loopholes that would let developers skip the rooftop solar panels in favor of green power from far-off solar farms.

Last year, the California Energy Commission approved a first-in-the-nation building standard that required solar panels on newly constructed homes and low-rise apartment buildings. It was a simple, smart policy designed to help wean residents off fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

This week, however, the commission considered a proposal from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District that would allow developers to avoid installing rooftop solar systems on new homes, and instead meet the requirements using green power from far-off solar farms. Commissioners rightly postponed their decision in the face of environmentalists’ protests.

To be sure, it makes sense to give developers some flexibility, particularly in cases where a building’s roof can’t accommodate enough solar panels or the area is too shady. And there’s real value in the development of local “community solar” projects that can provide backup power to homes cut off from the larger grid by an outage. That’s why the rooftop solar policy, which takes effect next year, offers builders and utilities the option of developing “community-shared solar options,” which includes off-site solar installations.

But the community solar option was so broadly written that it allows developers to rely exclusively on distant solar farms that are already built or in the construction pipeline. That would effectively gut the mandate to greatly increase the number of solar-powered homes; as a consequence, environmentalists say, less solar power would be generated. One commissioner warned that, under the Sacramento utility district proposal, it’s possible that every new home in the Sacramento area could be built without solar panels.

Such a move would deprive Californians of the benefits of having more homes powered locally by solar panels. Photovoltaics harness the sun to create electricity, reducing the need for dirtier forms of energy. Rooftop solar reduces the need for utility investments in the power grid. And residents generate their own power, cutting their utility bills.

The mandate makes even more sense now that California utilities have begun turning off electricity to millions of consumers to avoid having downed power lines spark more devastating and deadly wildfires. It’s going to take years, maybe decades, to make utility lines safer. In the meantime, rooftop solar panels together with battery storage systems can keep the lights on during the blackouts.

By all means, Sacramento’s utility and others should continue to invest in solar farms and industrial-scale solar installations that can deliver lots of cheap green power from a great remove via transmission lines. But the need for decarbonizing the state is so great and the work is so daunting, that commission can’t afford to weaken its own solar mandate.

California Enacts Bill To Extend Tax Protections For Rooftop Solar

By Betsy Lillian, Solar Industry Magazine

Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., has signed into law financial protections for consumer investments in rooftop solar.

The law, under A.B.1208, which was authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, extends a prohibition on cities and counties from taxing the energy generated by rooftop solar panels for use by homeowners and businesses, explains the California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA).

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Assemblymember Phil Ting

“We applaud Governor Newsom and Assemblymember Ting for protecting consumers’ right to generate their own energy from the sun without unfair taxes,” remarks Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of CALSSA, which also sponsored A.B.1208. “Reducing costs, eliminating red tape and encouraging consumers to go solar are all critical components of meeting California’s ambitious clean energy goals.”

Cities and counties, generally speaking, have the ability to tax utility services, such as electricity, as one potential source of local revenues, says CALSSA. Since 2013, the energy generated by rooftop solar panels has been explicitly exempt from what is called the “utility users tax,” or “UUT.” That pre-existing exemption was set to expire Dec. 31, 2019, but A.B.1208 has extended it another seven years.

“I’m proud to champion a bill that maintains California’s position as a leader in promoting renewable energy, which helps the effort to clean our air and fight climate change,” says Ting. “The governor’s signature keeps customer-owned clean energy affordable and will keep encouraging the use of greener power to reduce our carbon emissions.”

At a time when the state has set ambitious clean energy goals, A.B.1208 ensures that local governments do not create counter-productive disincentives to homeowners and businesses considering investments in clean energy, CALSSA points out. The law also provides consumers who have already invested in solar energy with the assurance that cities and counties will not tax their solar energy in the future.

“I’m thrilled to see California take this decisive step toward protecting a homeowner’s most basic clean energy right,” notes Dave Rosenfeld, executive director of Solar Rights Alliance, a statewide association of California solar users. “Just like growing your own carrots and avoiding sales taxes, if you put the sunlight that falls on your roof or property to your own use, you shouldn’t have to pay a tax either.”

CALSSA says the bill faced little controversy since it was introduced in May; it passed both the State Assembly and Senate with unanimous support.

Source: https://solarindustrymag.com/california-enacts-bill-to-extend-tax-protections-for-rooftop-solar

CALSSA implements consumer protection code

By Tim Sylvia, PV Magazine

The association has instituted three new rules to its code of ethics but remains unsatisfied, turning their sights now to setting a national standard.

In an ongoing effort to protect consumers, who are the necessary entity to the entire concept of a market, the California Solar & Storage Association (CALSSA) has updated the group’s Code of Ethics with a detailed section on new consumer protection rules, rules to guide not just CALSSA members, but the businesses those members work with.

What’s more is that there’s nothing soft about these rules. They are mandatory in adherence, and while not directly stated, the mandatory nature implies expulsion from CALSSA if not adhered to. That is not known fact, however.

In fact, all of the updated rules directly address those associated businesses. All members must now make sure third-party customer lead generators follow the new consumer protection rules by closely examining the policies and procedures of said lead generators, as well as monitoring their work over time.

CALSSA will no longer allow companies to be members if they do not police the work of who they buy leads from or, of course, the work of their own in-house teams. New rules include clearly defined terms that MUST NOT be used in any consumer-facing advertisement such as “free solar” or any suggestion that the government has endorsed your products.

For door-to-door canvassing, members must now make sure the salespeople have a HIS registration per California law. This applies whether the canvassers are employed by the CALSSA member or by a third-party business working in conjunction with the member.

The last new rule is arguably the most directly sided towards the immediate protection of the customer:

If you utilize third-party financing such as PPAs, leases or PACE for any of your residential customers, or if you are the financing entity yourself, you must conduct a recorded confirmation call with all of your residential customers before construction begins to cover key terms of the contract.

For CALSSA, the ambition to provide security and peace of mind to customers extends beyond the reaches of California and, in recognition of this ambition, the association also announced that it will be working with SEIA to make sure these rules are adopted across the entire industry.

What these rules feel like are an attempt made by CALSSA to provide customers with ignorance protection. The term “ignorance protection” isn’t meant to be a shot at the intelligence of the consumer, more like a recognition that on the national level, solar energy is a niche topic for the average person to have any knowledge on.

The first rule addresses this particularly well, preventing companies from falsely advertising their services to groups that may not know to question the claims.

This is especially true when looking at the efforts being made across the country to bring solar energy to underprivileged and low-income communities. The biggest commonality among these communities is a lower education level compared to others. If the general education level is low, chances are that the residents, and again this is not to blame them at all, aren’t going to have a comprehensive grasp on the workings of the solar industry.

Source: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2019/09/06/calssa-implements-consumer-protection-code/