Applications for the federal Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program will soon be accepting applications for the 2024 program year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.
This program, established via the Inflation Reduction Act, provides a 10 or 20-percentage point boost to the investment tax credit for qualified solar or wind facilities in low-income communities.
“This groundbreaking incentive to invest in low-income communities created by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is creating jobs and opportunity while lowering energy costs for communities that were long underinvested in,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said. “In the program’s first year, we saw sky-high demand for solar and wind investments, and we expect that momentum to continue as President Biden’s economic agenda ensures all Americans benefit from the growth of the clean energy economy.”
Applications can be submitted starting May 28 at 9:00 a.m. ET. All applications submitted within the first 30 days, by 11:59 pm ET on June 27, will be treated as submitted on the same date and at the same time. After the initial 30-day period, the Department of Energy (DOE) will continue to accept applications on a rolling basis.
On May 16, the Treasury and DOE will host a webinar, open to the public, about the 2024 program year application process. It starts at 1:00 p.m. ET.
“The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program is already boosting access to clean, reliable power in underserved communities, helping lower energy costs for low-income families, and creating good-paying jobs,” John Podesta, senior advisor to the president for international climate policy, said. “The program’s impact will grow even more in its second year thanks to the increased available capacity.”
The Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program annually allocates 1.8 gigawatts of capacity available through competitive application across four categories of qualified solar or wind facilities with maximum output of less than five megawatts. At least 50 percent of the capacity limitation in each category or sub-reservation will be made available to facilities that meet additional selection criteria.
Also, Treasury and the IRS announced that approximately 325 megawatts of available capacity will rollover to the 2024 program year. This will add to the annual 1.8 gigawatts of capacity for a total of over 2.1 gigawatts of capacity available in 2024.