Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed an executive order eliminating Ohio’s tangible personal property tax and real property tax for advanced and renewable energy project facilities.
Governor Strickland announced in his State of the State address this year his plan to eliminate these taxes for energy projects in order to make Ohio more competitive by lessening the tax burden for energy companies looking to locate and grow in Ohio and spur job creation.
The elimination will affect projects that begin construction before January 1, 2012, produce energy by 2013 (or 2017 for nuclear, clean coal and cogeneration projects) and create Ohio jobs. The law exempts qualified energy facilities from tangible personal property and real property taxes, and, instead, levies drastically lower service payments based on the project’s energy production levels and their commitment to job cretion.
The rules and application will be available on the Ohio Department of Development’s website.
New York Grid Ready for More Wind Power
Wind generation could be increased by over five times the amount currently operating in New York, according to a study issued by the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO).
The report looks at expanding wind power from the existing
1,275 megawatts (MW) to 8,000 MW by 2018.
Wind generation presents challenges to system operators due to the variability of output, and the fact that wind
energy tends to increase much later in the day when power use is declining and decline in the morning when power
use is increasing.
The study found that any operational requirements associated with integrating sufficient wind generation could be
addressed, paving the way for the fulfillment of New York State’s goal of having 30% of the state’s electricity
supplied by renewable resources by 2015.
Focusing on the technical and operation issues associated with the addition of such a large amount of wind power,
the study found that transmission upgrades and additional regulation service would be required.
To accommodate wind generation reliably, the NYISO has implemented innovative measures such as a wind
dispatch system based on bids of individual generators and a wind forecasting mechanism that uses wind speed and
wind direction data collected by interconnected wind resources in New York, and other meteorological data, to
forecast the amount of energy expected to be produced by wind resources over various time frames.
West Virginia Sues Feds to Keep Mountaintop Removal Mining
West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III announced that his state will sue two federal agencies that want to impose stricter controls on mountaintop removal coal mining.
Manchin, a conservative Democrat, is in a tough campaign battle to claim the U.S. Senate seat left open by the death of Robert C. Byrd.
Republican candidate, John Raese, has said Manchin is not supportive enough of the coal industry. According to a New York Times blog, the court case shows Manchin’s unwavering love for the coal industry, while helping to distance him from the Obama administration.
Read additional coverage at the link below.
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