One week before Christmas, President Barack Obama signed into law a five-year extension of the two key federal tax incentives, launching the sectors into a new period of robust growth, sustained profitability and policy certainty.

“This is seismic and a major step forward,” says Greg Wetstone, president of the American Council On Renewable Energy, the nation’s leading non-profit advocacy group for the sector, noting that the importance of stable, longer-term tax policy cannot be overstated.