GeoExchange Sends Letter to Incoming Biden Administration
The Geothermal Exchange Organization and several partner organizations recently sent a letter to President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris urging their support for an extension of tax credits for renewable energy technologies. The text of the letter is below.
November 25, 2020
President-elect Joseph Biden
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris
1401 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20230
Dear President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris:
As members of the Coalition for Clean Energy Jobs and Innovation, we are writing to urge you to prioritize a long-term extension of the Section 48 and Section 25D investment tax credits (the “ITC”) as part of your immediate legislative agenda. The federal ITC has been a critical, innovation-stimulating policy creating hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, lowering electricity prices for families and businesses, reducing carbon emissions, and maintaining America’s competitive edge in emerging energy technologies. In the last decade the ITC has helped reduce U.S. CO2 emissions by well over 80 million metric tons. Given the economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and with the ITC already phasing out starting in 2020, now is the time to enact a long-term extension of the ITC and to provide for direct pay to give the industry the certainty necessary to help the nation recover from the economic crisis.
First signed into law as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the federal ITC continues to play a critical role in driving energy innovation and American technological leadership. About 400,000 Americans work in the industries affected by the ITC—including solar, fuel cells, geothermal heat pumps, distributed wind, combined heat and power systems, and micro-turbines. This is more than double the number that worked in these industries less than a decade ago, which is a testament to the economic benefits the ITC creates, particularly since Congress expanded the credit amount in 2009. Whether it is a farmer or a rancher in a rural community, a small business, a homeowner, or institutional energy consumers such as businesses and government entities, the tax credits are helping deploy innovative technologies, create jobs, and reduce the carbon footprint of homes and commercial buildings.
The ITC has historically attracted strong bipartisan support, with Members of both parties recently calling for an extension of the credit in legislative discussions over COVID-19 relief and infrastructure. Granting this extension would constitute a bipartisan win for both the Administration and for a clean energy economy consisting overwhelmingly of small and local businesses in rural and urban areas alike. An ITC extension, and the addition of direct pay, would also encourage the additional growth and innovation in the clean energy economy that will be necessary to achieve your goals around greenhouse gas emissions reductions, ensuring affordable energy for American consumers, and achieving American energy independence.
Thank you for your consideration of this bipartisan policy and we look forward to working with you to create a brighter future for America’s clean energy economy
Respectfully,
Combined Heat and Power Alliance
Distributed Wind Energy Association
Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association
Geothermal Exchange Organization
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Solar Energy Industries Association