College of Business and Economics Poster Presentations
Title
An Economic Analysis for Using State Incentives for Wind Energy
Document Type
Student Presentation
Presentation Date
4-16-2012
Faculty Sponsor
Scott Lowe
Abstract
In April 2011, House Bill 347 was proposed in the Idaho legislation to extend the sales tax rebate for purchases of equipment used to generate electricity from alternative energy sources (i.e. wind). The bill unfortunately did not pass the Idaho State Senate and the rebate has expired. The premise of this research poster asks if the tax rebate was extended, what would the benefits and costs be for the following stakeholders: Idaho residents that live in proximity of wind farms, Idaho Power consumers, Idaho’s local municipalities, the Idaho state government, the Idaho economy and the environment. In order to quantify the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed legislation, a simple cost-benefit analysis was used with a common metric of dollars. Conclusively, this analysis shows that the tax rebate would be beneficial for almost all of the stakeholders that are examined in this model, except Idaho Power's consumers. Thus, this economic analysis does support state tax incentives for wind power development.