Credit score: DSD Renewables
On October 3, the Photo voltaic Power Industries Affiliation (SEIA) filed feedback on proposed guidelines for the Low-Earnings Communities Bonus Credit score because it transitions to the technology-neutral tax credit score construction in 2025.
Underneath the proposed rule, starting in 2025, storage property will now not qualify for the profit, presenting purple tape and complications for residential and group photo voltaic corporations and storage accessibility points for photo voltaic clients.
The bonus credit score encourages companies to spend money on photo voltaic initiatives that profit low-income communities and households, together with initiatives on Tribal land and as a part of inexpensive housing developments. If companies meet the factors for the credit score, they may improve the worth of the technology-neutral funding tax credit score by as much as 20 proportion factors.
“As electrical energy demand soars, we must always deal with eradicating boundaries to photo voltaic and storage adoption, not including them,” stated Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Photo voltaic Power Industries Affiliation. “The proposed modifications to the Low-Earnings Communities Bonus Credit score in 2025 disincentivize storage adoption, lacking an necessary alternative to spice up grid reliability and assist the individuals and communities impacted by environmental injustice. This modification is out of step with the intention of the invoice, and we urge the administration to handle this earlier than finalizing.”
Primarily based on earlier proposed guidelines addressing the technology-neutral tax credit, which SEIA additionally commented on, this newest proposed change presents new administrative and contracting prices for residential and group photo voltaic companies and reduces shopper alternative. These proposed guidelines, if finalized, would make storage a much less enticing choice for owners and companies, creating new boundaries for the communities this system is meant to assist. As well as, these actions diminish the broader effort to enhance grid reliability and buyer resilience with extra power storage property on the grid.
For the reason that Low-Earnings Communities Bonus Credit score Program was carried out in 2023, the U.S. Division of the Treasury has obtained greater than 50,000 purposes totaling 1.5 gigawatts of photo voltaic capability to assist decrease revenue People. Whereas Treasury didn’t publish the variety of purposes that embrace storage, 13% of residential photo voltaic installations included storage in 2023, and that proportion is predicted to double by 2028.
This extremely standard program is a part of the clear power incentives within the Inflation Discount Act.
Information merchandise from SEIA
