ACORE calls on Congress for tax credit extension amid COVID-19 uncertainty

Citing virus-created supply chain disruptions with the potential to undermine renewable projects’ ability to qualify for time-sensitive tax credits, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) along with the five other renewable energy advocacy groups have written to Congress calling for “an extension of start construction and safe harbor deadlines to qualify for renewable tax credits.”

The request also includes a provision that ACORE has pushed in many of the organization’s recent letters to legislators: a direct pay tax credit for stand-alone energy storage.

Unlike the other tax incentives outlined in the letter, the inclusion of an energy storage tax credit was not just directly tied to any COVID-19 related industry hardships, but rather the growing necessity for a more resilient grid.

In all, the letter calls for:

• “An extension of start construction and safe harbor deadlines to ensure that renewable projects can qualify for renewable tax credits despite delays associated with supply chain disruptions
• Provisions allowing renewable tax credits to be available for direct pay to facilitate their monetization in the face of reduced availability of tax equity
• Enactment of a direct pay tax credit for stand-alone energy storage to foster renewable growth and help secure the more resilient grid we need in these difficult times”

The letter also cited a Strategy Group poll which found that 89% of Americans, regardless of party affiliation support extending clean energy tax credits.

The other groups included in ACORE’s call on Congress are the American Wind Energy Association, Energy Storage Association, National Hydropower Association, Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, and the Solar Energy Industries Association.