FEDERAL-TAX INCENTIVES AND DISINCENTIVES FOR THE ADOPTION OF WOOD-FUEL ELECTRIC-GENERATING TECHNOLOGIES

In this paper we estimate the effects of current federaltax policy on the financial criteria that investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs) a nd non-utility electricity generators (NUGs) use to evaluate wood-fuel electric-generating technologies, distinguishing between dedicated-pl antation and wood-waste fuels. Accelerated tax depreciation, the 1.5 c /kWh production true credit for the dedicated-plantation technology, a nd the alternative minimum tax ala the most important tax provisions. The results indicate that federal tax laws have significantly differen t effects on the evaluation criteria, depending on the plant's ownersh ip (IOU vs NUG) and type of fuel (dedicated-plantation vs wood-waste).