Biden Administration Allocates $4 Billion Tax Credits to Drive Clean Energy Supply Chain
The Biden Administration announced the selection of over 100 projects across the U.S. to receive $4 billion in tax credits, aimed at building the clean energy supply chain and supporting industrial decarbonization.
The advancement of clean energy manufacturing and industrial decarbonization has been key focus areas for the Biden administration’s climate agenda, with the administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) including allocations of nearly $500 billion to climate-focused investments in areas including carbon-free energy, manufacturing and clean technologies.
The new allocations are funded by the Inflation Reduction act, and are being made through the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit (48C) program, which provides investment tax credits of up to 30% for advanced energy projects that meet prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements.
Initially launched in 2009, the 48C program was expanded with a $10 billion investment under the IRA, including at least $4 billion earmarked for projects in energy communities with closed coal mines or coal plants. The new allocations include $1.5 billion to support projects in historic energy communities.
Approximately two thirds of the new tax credits, representing $2.7 billion, have been allocated to clean energy manufacturing and recycling projects focused on areas ranging from clean hydrogen and grid to electric vehicles, nuclear power and solar PV and wind energy. $800 million have been allocated to critical materials recycling, processing, and refining projects such as electrical steel applications, lithium-ion battery recycling, and rare earth projects, and $500 million to industrial decarbonization projects across a broad range of sectors including chemicals, food and beverage, pulp and paper, biofuels, glass, ceramics, iron and steel, automotive manufacturing, and building materials.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, said:
“From direct grants to historic tax credits, the President’s Investing in America agenda is making the nation an irresistible place to invest in clean energy manufacturing. The President’s agenda places direct emphasis on communities that have traditionally powered our nation for generations, helping ensure those communities reap the economic benefits of the clean energy transition and continue to play a leading role in building up the next wave of energy sources.”