The Republican Party’s North Dakota representative, Julie Fedorchak, has introduced a new bill to phase out wind and solar tax credits
The proposal is to reduce these by 20% annually over the next 5 years, and put an end to transferability to 3rd parties
It favors dispatchable sources like nuclear, hydro and geothermal for providing grid stability
US Congresswoman Julie Fedorchak from the Republican Party in North Dakota has proposed a ‘common-sense’ bill to phase out Production Tax Credits (PTC) and Investment Tax Credits (ITC) for wind and solar in the country. She says these subsidies are now causing serious market distortions.
The proposal is to ‘responsibly’ phase out these tax credits over a 5-year period, 20% each year through the Ending Intermittent Energy Subsidies Act of 2025.
However, other qualified technologies – nuclear, hydropower, and geothermal – will continue to benefit from the credits as these provide ‘dependable, dispatchable generation.’
One of the proposals is to eliminate transferability of wind and solar tax credits to 3rd party buyers. This will close a ‘loophole that inflates their value and prolongs market imbalances.’
Fedorchak’s rationale is that both wind and solar are no longer emerging technologies. Instead, these are mature, market-proven, and widely deployed. The current subsidy structure disproportionately rewards intermittent resources that can’t be dispatched on demand, while coal, natural gas and nuclear are being prematurely retired. This is leading to a ‘reliability crisis.’
She cites the Cato Institute estimate that these provisions could cost taxpayers up to $901 billion over the next decade.
“By continuing to incentivize these intermittent energy sources through generous tax credits, we’re distorting energy markets and sending the absolute wrong signal to investors,” explained Fedorchak. “As all the grid operators are saying, we need more dispatchable resources. We must stop providing generous incentives that run contrary to that.”
The proposed bill is co-sponsored by Energy and Commerce Republicans Gary Palmer, Randy Weber and Craig Goldman. “This important legislation will curb excessive government spending and help restore balance to our energy markets,” said Goldman. Fedorchak has separately introduced H.Res.290 resolution to stop the ‘premature retirements’ of reliable baseload power sources such as coal and natural gas without dependable replacements.
For a quick background, PTC and ITC are part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) tax codes Section 45Y and Section 48E. Referred to as technology-neutral credits, these are available for projects that enter service after December 31, 2024. Apart from wind and solar, these tax credits are also available for zero-emission sources like wind, solar as well as nuclear, hydropower, geothermal, and battery storage.
US President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden issued final rules on these Clean Electricity Credits days before the former’s oathtaking ceremony in January 2025, thus making sure that any future changes to the list of zero-emission technologies in the final rules can be made after lengthy, inter-agency consultations (see Biden Administration Issues Final Rules For Technology-Neutral Tax Credits).