The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has launched Solar Powers America, a new grassroots advocacy platform that will hit the ground running by advocating for the protection of clean energy tax credits.
With both chambers of Congress preparing to return to Washington to negotiate a budget reconciliation package, SEIA is hoping to mobilize people across the country to influence the conversation. Solar Powers America helps Americans contact their representatives to urge support for the federal tax credits.
“Solar and storage are driving American energy and AI dominance, supporting thousands of good jobs, lowering energy costs, and delivering historic manufacturing investments,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “Cutting federal clean energy tax credits would increase household electric bills the very next day. Now is the time for Americans to make their voices heard as Congress gears up to negotiate a budget package that could increase energy costs and stall America’s fastest-growing energy technologies. Solar Powers America will help them to do just that.”
Alongside the debut of Solar Powers America, SEIA is launching a new advertising campaign targeting key Congressional districts. The campaign encourages constituents to contact their lawmakers through SolarPowersAmerica.org and outlines what could be at risk if federal energy incentives are repealed.
Will clean energy tax credits survive?
Just before President Trump’s inauguration, former President Biden’s administration released final rules for the clean electricity investment and production tax credits. The credits are among roughly two dozen tax provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022 with only Democrat support. The credits are designed to save families money on their energy bills and accelerate the deployment of clean energy, electric vehicles, energy efficient buildings and low-carbon manufacturing.
Shortly after his inauguration, President Trump halted the disbursement of all funding provided by the IRA and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), policies he calls the “Green New Scam.” He also cleared the way for drilling on federal lands to combat an “energy emergency” blamed on the previous administration, halted leasing and permitting for offshore wind projects, and restarted the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty combatting climate change.
Last month, 21 House Republicans signed a letter addressed to Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee advocating to keep IRA clean energy tax credits in place.
Those Republican signatories to the letter likely have a good reason to keep the IRA and its tax credits around: red states and districts are benefitting from them the most. A report released last year by the national nonpartisan business organization E2 indicates Southeast states and Republican congressional districts are seeing the most return from the legislation. About 60% of all IRA-related clean economy projects – and 85% of total private-sector investments announced at the time of the report – have gone to Republican congressional districts, despite the fact that no Republican member of Congress voted in favor of the IRA. 19 of the top 20 congressional districts for clean energy investments are held by Republicans.
Last summer, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released data from the IRS and an analysis by the Office of Economic Policy demonstrating that more than 3.4 million American families benefitted from $8.4 billion in Inflation Reduction Act tax credits in 2023 alone.
This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.
