More than 70 organizations call for extension of Investment Tax Credit

A group of more than 70 organizations, led by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), recently sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to advance the Renewable Energy Extension Act, which would extend the Section 48 and Section 25D Investment Tax Credit (ITC).

The organizations represent a broad array of interests across all 50 states, SEIA said, including electric cooperatives, environmental groups, home builders, farmers, and other groups.

“It’s not every day that you see higher ed advocates and farm families agree on energy policy,” SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said. “Extending the Investment Tax Credit is common sense and this effort shows us just how many people, communities, and interests it touches. Whether you want to reduce emissions, stimulate economic investment, or create jobs, we’re showing Congress that the ITC is a proven policy that can do all of those things.”

The Renewable Energy Extension Act would extend the ITC for another five years. Without an extension, the ITC will begin stepping down at the end of 2019 and drops to 10 percent for commercial and utility-scale customers and be eliminated for residential customers in 2022.

Passed in 2005, the ITC covers renewable energy technologies like solar, wind, geothermal, and fuel cells at the residential and commercial levels.

The ITC has helped to create more than 200,000 solar jobs, led to $140 billion in private investment, and increased solar deployment by more than 10,000 percent, according to SEIA.

“As farmers and ranchers face uncertain markets and declining farm income, renewable energy provides a reliable source of income and reduces on-farm energy costs,” Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said. “The Farm Bureau supports the section 48 and 25D investment tax credit because it helps to create a diverse and domestic energy supply, strengthen our energy security, and bolster rural economies. Congress needs to enact a predictable, stable, and long-term tax credit solution so that rural businesses and investors have the certainty they need to continue developing solar, distributed wind, and other renewable energy projects.”

If extended for another 10 years, the ITC would offset an additional 363 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, SEIA said.