Incentives Work! (and they could work even better!)

摘要

At every hydroelectric plant, there are opportunities to produce more energy. Yet, whether "the gain is worth the pain" is a tradeoff well-known to all project owners and operators. As of August 2005, things changed in the U.S., owing to enactment of the Energy Policy Act. By incentivizing additions to energy supply, including certain categories of hydropower, Congress altered the gain/pain equation. One important incentive — the same type of incentive that has simulated extraordinarily robust growth in wind power — is the production tax credit, or PTC.