- SEIA says the US Senate and House Representatives have placed companion bills for 5-year extension of federal solar ITC
- The bills, HR 3961 and S 2289, are seeking an extension of Section 48 and Section 25D
- These bills have come from both Democrat and Republican members of Congress
The United States (US) Congress has been presented with companion bills seeking 5-year extension for the current federal investment tax credit (ITC) of 30%. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Representatives Mike Thompson, Paul Cook and Brian Fitzpatrick, representing both Democrat and Republicans, have moved the bills as Renewable Energy Extension Act for Section 48 and Section 25D. The respective bills are HR 3961 and S 2289.
Introduced in 2005 by then President George W Bush, it was extended in 2015 by the Barack Obama led administration that directed it to be gradually reduced after 2019 to 26% in 2020, 22% in 2021 and only 10% for commercial and utility-scale projects with residential getting none of it in 2022. Commercial solar projects include customer-cited and large-scale utility solar farms.
Crediting the ITC for having sparked more than $140 billion in private investment and growing solar deployment by over 10,000%, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) supported the bills.
“Now is not the time to turn our backs on this American success story. The ITC is the strongest policy there is to support clean energy development, grow the economy, create jobs and meaningfully cut emissions,” said SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.
The SEIA is lobbying for the extension rallying the support of close to 1,000 American solar industry players. The fear of ITC stepdown is making developers stockpile modules, reported Reuters (see US Solar Firms Join Hands Demanding ITC Extension).
