国际英语新闻：Silicon Valley rejoices over passage of bailout bill

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The passage of the 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout package triggered a wave of celebration and relief within the companies that make solar cells and high-tech windmills in Silicon Valley, it was reported on Saturday.

    This was "a major political victory" for Silicon Valley as Congress and President George W. Bush extended renewable-energy tax credits that, just days earlier, seemed doomed to expire at the end of the year, the San Francisco Chronicle said.

    The tax credit extension, long sought by Silicon Valley, was tucked into the bailout package approved by the Senate on Wednesday and the House of Representatives on Friday. Bush signed it into law later in the day.

    "It's a fantastic day for the renewable-power industry," said Julie Blunden, vice president for public policy at SunPower Corp. "This is one of those few times when you can tell you're at a turning point."

    One of the tax credits covers 30 percent of the cost of solar power plants. Another gives wind farm owners a credit of 2 cents for every kilowatt hour of electricity they generate. Both credits had been set to expire at the end of the year, and without them, many large, renewable-energy projects nationwide might not have been built.

    That, in turn, could have derailed California's efforts to increase its use of renewable power. State law requires California utilities to get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by the end of 2010.

    The investment tax credit used by solar companies has now been extended for eight years. The production tax credit for wind farms has been extended just one year. Wind-power advocates said Friday that they will push for a longer extension next year.

    Although the tax credits enjoy bipartisan support, their extension turned into a legislative ordeal, the paper said.

    Both parties used them as bargaining chips in the larger debate about American energy policy. Last week, Congress appeared set to extend the credits as part of a package of tax measures, but the House and Senate couldn't agree on how to pay for them. As Congress turned its attention to the bailout, many renewable-power advocates feared that they would have to let the credits expire and then try to renew them next year.

    But the Senate tacked the credits onto a revised version of the bailout bill, which passed the House on Friday.