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Nebraska Senators Introduce Bills to Advance Renewable Energy

Senators Introduce Bills to Advance Renewable Energy in Nebraska LINCOLN, Neb. 2 KNOP, 17 Jan 15 — State senators announced Friday that they will introduce five bills intended to advance Nebraska’s renewable energy industry, increase economic development and provide property tax benefits.

“These bills will help to incentivize growth and investment in Nebraska over surrounding states and also remove barriers to renewable energy development in our state,” said Sen. Jeremy Nordquist, who is sponsoring one of the bills.

Nordquist’s bill would create a Nebraska production tax credit for renewable electric generation facilities and would allow the credit to be transferable. Surrounding states, including Iowa and Oklahoma, already offer a credit against state income tax for each kilowatt hour of electricity that a renewable energy generation facility produces.

“Without a state production tax credit in place, surrounding states have a competitive advantage over Nebraska,” Nordquist said “This would put Nebraska on a level playing field by helping our state compete for projects designed to export electricity out of the state as well as benefiting Nebraska ratepayers by providing cheaper available electricity for in-state utilities.”

“A state production tax credit is essential to leveling the playing field and enabling our state to become a net exporter of energy instead of importer,” said Jon Crane, President of Bluestem Energy. Sen. Al Davis will introduce a bill to broaden the existing Nameplate Capacity Tax to include projects using solar, biomass or landfill gas as the fuel source. In 2010, the Legislature created the Nameplate Capacity Tax, which is a flat excise tax that replaces the heavily front-loaded personal property tax that early wind energy projects paid……….

Sen. Ken Haar will introduce a bill to simplify the existing process for the Nebraska Power Review Board to consider a renewable energy export facility. …………

Sen. Heath Mello will introduce a bill to simplify the Community-Based Energy Development, (CBED) process. …….

Sen. Ken Schilz will introduce a bill that would require the Nebraska Energy Office to prepare a comprehensive, forward-looking energy plan for Nebraska by the end of 2015 that would be
updated every two years………http://www.knopnews2.com/home/headlines/Senators-Introduce-Bills-to-Advance-Renewable-Energy-in-Nebraska-288829681.html

January 17, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, renewable, USA