Renewable groups call for Obama action

Four US cleantech industry groups have clubbed together to issue a wish list for renewable energy development under the presidency of Barack Obama.

The Solar Energy Industries Association, National Hydropower Association, Geothermal Energy Association and American Wind Energy Association have issued a set of requests for the next session of Congress, including calls for a nationwide carbon cap-and-trade system and enhanced tax credits for their industries.

The group also wants to see a national renewable energy standard that requires 10 per cent of all energy to be drawn from renewable sources by 2010, and 25 per cent by 2025.

To support these targets they have requested that the federal production tax credit (PTC) for renewable energy projects be extended for a minimum of five years, and called for more generous clean renewable energy bonds. As part of the bail out of the financial system that was agreed before the election, the PTC was extended for just one year, while the related investment tax credit was extended for eight years.

The groups also want a federal commitment that the public sector will buy more renewable energy, as well as a commitment for more investment in smart grid technology.

Finally, they have asked for the imposition of a carbon cap-and-trade system to limit emissions, and a $30bn (£20bn) investment in financing options for renewable projects in 2009.

Several of the requests in the joint statement requested by the groups have scant details, and seem to do little other than reiterate president-elect Obama's existing energy platform.

He has already called for a cap-and-trade system with specific goals, investment in smart grid technologies, and pledged to draw 10 per cent of American energy from renewable resources by 2012, with a quarter coming from renewables by 2025, while his aides have signalled that climate change and energy policy will be a top priority once Obama takes office in January.

However, Obama has provided limited detail on how the $150bn that he has pledged will be invested in cleantech over the next decade will be spent, and the renewable energy groups appear to be positioning their industries early to make a play for a large chunk of that funding.