The Biden administration revealed a $2 trillion infrastructure investment plan intended to create millions of jobs, rebuild the country’s infrastructure, and target the benefits of climate and clean infrastructure investments to disadvantaged communities.
Solar made it into the American Jobs Plan in the form of a proposed 10-year extension and phase down of an expanded direct-pay investment tax credit and production tax credit for clean energy generation and storage.
The plan would also use the federal government’s purchasing power to secure 24/7 clean power for federal buildings.
Image: Wikimedia commons
Besides extending the investment tax credit, the Biden proposal would create an investment tax credit to incentivize the buildout of at least 20 GW of high-voltage-capacity transmission power lines and mobilizes tens of billions in private capital.
Aging transmission infrastructure has long been cited as an issue that will hold the clean energy transition back from achieving its full potential.
The plan would also establish a new Grid Deployment Authority at the Department of Energy. It would allow for better leverage of rights-of-way along roads and railways via financing tools to spur additional high-priority, high-voltage transmission lines.
EV support
Affirming his earlier commitment to move the federal vehicle fleet to electric vehicles (EVs), Biden also proposed a $174 billion investment in EV, aimed at spurring domestic supply chains from raw materials to parts, retooling factories to compete globally, and supporting American efforts to make batteries and EVs.
The plan also would offer consumers point of sale rebates and tax incentives to buy American-made EVs that are affordable and manufactured in the U.S. State and local governments as well as the private sector would have access to grant and incentive programs to build a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030.
Image: Pixabay
The plan also includes goals of replacing 50,000 diesel transit vehicles and transitioning to an electric school bus fleet.
R&D investment
Biden once again noted U.S. declines in investment in research and development (R&D). Biden called on Congress to invest $50 billion in the National Science Foundation to create a technology directorate that would work with and build on existing programs across the government. The initiative would focus on a number of R&D fields, including advanced energy technologies.
Independent of this proposed $50 billion, Biden also called for Congress to invest $35 billion to address the climate crisis and “position America as the global leader in clean energy technology and clean energy jobs.”
The investment would include $15 billion in demonstration projects for climate R&D priorities, including utility-scale energy storage, carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, floating offshore wind, biofuel/bioproducts, and electric vehicles.
Industry response
The solar industry and broader clean tech sector greeted the proposal with near-uniform support .
Image: SEIA
Of the plan, Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), “President Biden’s infrastructure proposal is a significant step in meeting our collective clean energy goals. The plan creates jobs, spurs the economy, faces the climate crisis, and advances environmental justice.”
In an interview with pv magazine USA earlier this year, she emphasized the importance of stable policymaking, particularly at the federal level.
Gregory Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), had similar praise for the plan. In a statement, he commended the Biden administration for using the infrastructure bill to tackle the climate crisis. He said, “The American Jobs Plan will move the clean energy sector beyond the endless cycles of temporary stopgap incentives toward a stable, long-term tax platform that will put millions of Americans back to work, upgrading our outdated grid and building a 21st century renewable energy economy.”
But Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, criticized the plan, saying that it “falls short on climate.”
Rather than adopt a Marshall Plan-type approach to climate and renewable energy, he said the “industry-friendly infrastructure plan” includes “gimmicky subsidies for carbon capture, fantastically wishes the free market will save us, and fails to take crucial and ambitious steps toward phasing out fossil fuels.” He said that although the Biden administration has pledged to cut carbon emissions 50% and decarbonize the electricity sector “this proposal won’t even come close.”
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Biden’s plan should also include mass solar energy harvestation. For one thing, it may no longer be prudent to have every structure’s entire electricity supply relying on external power lines that are susceptible to being crippled by unforeseen events, including storms of unprecedented magnitude (many Texans may now be realizing this). There also are coronal mass ejections to consider, however rare, in which power grids are vulnerable to potentially extensive damage and long-lasting power outages.
I, personally, could really appreciate the liberating effect of having my own independently accessed solar-cell power supply (clear skies permitting, of course), especially considering my/our dangerous reliance on electricity. And it will not require huge land-flooding and potentially collapsing water dams, nor constructing towering wind turbine farms.
Each building having its own solar-cell-panel power storage system — at least as an emergency/backup source of power — makes sense (except, of course, to the various big energy corporation CEOs whose concern is but dollars and cents).
But if solar-panel universality would come at the profit-margin expense of the traditional energy production companies, one can expect obstacles, including the political and regulatory sort. If it notably conflicts with corporate big-profit interests, even very progressive motions are greatly resisted, often enough successfully.
I could not agree more. Private residential solar could have such an empowering effect on the masses. And unlike just handing checks to giant solar and wind farms, it would have a strong influence on power consumption behavior by making the homeowner and business owner much more aware of their use verses production; particularly if excess production is bought by the utility.
That behavior piece cannot be understated. As someone who owns a Prius and an F250, I purposefully pinch pennies in the gas sipping Prius just to see the savings in real time. In the 3/4 ton, the gauge for the 40 gallon tank is the size of a quarter and I mash the peddle down without thought.
Just like our behaviors around water use and garbage, when the process is all out of sight and out of mind, our behaviors reverts to the tragedy of the commons, and wastefulness is the default.
It’s good to have an adult in the Oval Office. While critics will criticize Biden’s plan it’s a YUGE step forward over the previous administration’s Flat Earth policies.
One thing, in agreement with Frank Sterel’s comment. If we are to combat climate change and strengthen our security we need to look beyond these huge centralized power production systems. A greatly distributed power production system even down to the individual household would make us a lot less vulnerable to any threats natural or manmade. Renewables + storage is the smart thing to do. Billions spent on better storage methods and more efficient renewables would pay dividends in the future.
The utilities are all touting this wonderful “all-electric future”, but the reality is they want us to stay beholden to them. Our power grid was built out in the 1950’s and ’60’s with a life expectancy of 50 years. During the ensuing time the utility companies have milked their investment for all it’s worth choosing profits over maintenance and modernization. It’s time to look to a future of distributed energy and kiss the big monopolies goodbye.
Does the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law include residential solar? What is the benefit for homeowners?