Tag Archives: ITC

Q&A With Abigail Ross Hopper Of SEIA On Energy Storage And The ITC

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The investment tax credit (ITC) has been one of the most successful methods for supporting solar development at the federal level for nearly the past decade. Under its provisions, solar consumers can take a 30% tax credit on their tax returns if they install solar electricity (though under a 2015 extension, the amount of the credit starts to go down starting in 2020.

As energy storage has become more of a factor in people’s decisions to go solar, however, there’s been a growing movement that would add energy storage projects into the ITC as a method of encouraging the growth of this ever more important market.

To that end, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), alongside a broad coalition of energy trade and advocacy organizations, sent a letter to Congress asking it to to modify the tax code to include energy storage as an eligible technology for the ITC.

SolarWakeup reached out to Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of SEIA to find out more.

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SolarWakeup (SWup): Why now?

Abigail Ross Hopper (ARH): Why not now? It is important for our grid, has strong bipartisan Congressional support and represents a big opportunity for clean energy, particularly solar. We know there is going to be tax legislation moving in the lame-duck session, and we think this is the perfect time to get this fix done.

SWUp: Is there a bill to do this already in the works?

ARH: The bill we’re urging Congress enact is the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act of 2017 (S. 1868/HR 4649).

SWup: What fix are you looking for specifically?

ARH: We are urging Congress to fix the investment tax credit in Sections 48 and 25D of the tax code to include energy storage as an eligible technology.

SWup: What do you think the chances of passage are?

ARH: We know from our visits with members from the top 100 solar districts that there is broad bipartisan support for applying the ITC to storage, and we believe it has a very good chance of still being included in legislation this year.

SWup: What impact do you think this would have on the solar industry going forward?

ARH: Many of our companies are storage companies too. This is a common-sense bill that will encourage investment, jobs and accelerated deployment of solar plus storage projects across the country. It’s a no-brainer.

SWup: Are you seeing situations where not having ITC eligibility is inhibiting deals from getting done?

ARH: Yes. For example, for utility-connected storage (Sec. 48) or community solar (Sec. 25D), where the storage technology is in front of the meter, the current requirement that 75% of the electricity comes from storage serves as a disincentive for investment in solar + storage. Eliminating this would make tax equity easier to obtain.

This would also allow retrofits to qualify, and currently they only do under very specific conditions.

IRS Regifts Utility-Scale Solar Four More Years Of 30% ITC

IRS

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondentthey

Four more years! Four more years!

That’s the mantra some utility-scale solar developers are chanting today after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) decided to extend the 30% investment tax credit (ITC) through 2023 as long as they have broken ground or spent 5% of the total expected investment in the project by the end of 2019.

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Bloomberg reports the opinion, issued by the IRS late last week, came as something of a surprise to most utility-scale developers. As the reporters noted:

“The news is positive for utility scale solar developers who can now avoid solar tariffs imposed on imports through 2021, procure majority of their solar panels in later years, and still qualify for the higher tax credits, analysts led by Michael Weinstein, said in the note.

If developers break ground on January 1, 2020 or beyond, the credit drops to 26%.

The decision, combined with China’s unexpected decision to halt construction on its own domestic industry, could help move some utility-scale projects that had previously been shelved back into an active status with developers.

China’s decision to scotch its domestic industry means inexpensive modules could soon be flooding the U.S. market, with utility-scale projects benefiting the most.