GEOTHERMAL ENERGY ASSOCIATION

Secure Longer Term Tax Incentives to Promote Geothermal Energy Development and Industry Stability

• Extend the renewable energy tax credit placed-in-service deadline for new geothermal projects to December 31, 2016 to provide parity with solar projects.
• Support enactment of a long-term geothermal tax credit extension with access to master-limited partnerships (MLPs) or other means to foster monetization of tax credits.

• Support state and regional transmission policies that will facilitate new geothermal development.
• Support DOE/FERC efforts to facilitate the permitting and construction of needed transmission capacity.

• Carry on a constructive dialogue with the BLM and other federal and state agencies to address these issues.
• Strategically engage Congress to help expedite renewable energy permitting on Federal lands.

• Establish an industry/government partnership that would identify and develop new technologies and methods for targeting and drilling geothermal wells with the specific goal of reducing the risk (i.e. reducing time to market and increased probability of success) associated with geothermal project development.
• Build on prior USGS assessments to define, quantify and characterize the US geothermal resource base, including known resources, new and hidden resources, and EGS resources.
• Develop and test methodologies to identify and characterize new and hidden geothermal resources, increasing the pace of their discovery and development for electric power. Also, devise novel approaches and practical technology to alleviate obstacles that presently impede geothermal development, such as water consumption, induced seismicity and residual greenhouse gas emissions.
• Establish a new loan fund or cost sharing program to promote exploratory drilling and to encourage mapping of the nation’s geothermal resource base.

• Work strategically to support energy policy changes that promote geothermal energy development through a national output based Clean Energy Standard that gives recognition to the value of base load renewable power.

• Support efforts of federal and state agencies to encourage expanded exports of goods and services by GEA member companies, including the collaborative efforts being fostered by the National Export Initiative.