The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Services issued final rules on the investment tax credit for clean energy project developers.
The final rules pertain to the Section 48 Energy Credit – also known as the Investment Tax Credit (ITC). They seek to provide clean energy developers with more clarity and certainty on a range of items and spur investments in new projects.
The ITC provides a tax credit for investments in qualifying clean energy property. It has fueled U.S. clean energy development for decades. While the level of the credit has varied, it generally represents about 30 percent of the cost of the project.
However, its effectiveness was limited by the need for recurring short-term and retroactive legislative extensions. This created uncertainty and made it more difficult for clean energy developers to make investments and secure financing for projects.
The Inflation Reduction Act extended the ITC – as well as the closely related Production Tax Credit (PTC) – until 2025. At that point the ITC and PTC will switch to a tech-neutral approach with credits that will be available in full for projects beginning construction at least through 2033.
“By ending short-term legislative extensions for the Investment Tax Credit, the Inflation Reduction Act has given clean energy project developers clarity and certainty to undertake major investments and produce new clean power to meet growing electricity demand,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo said. “Today’s announcement will help lower consumers’ utility bills, strengthen U.S. energy security, and create good-paying jobs.”
The final rules clarify general rules for the ITC and its definitions of property eligible for the tax credit, informed by 350 written comments from stakeholders.
Specific issues the final rules address include:
• Offshore wind: Owners of offshore wind farms can claim the tax credit for power conditioning and transfer equipment (e.g., subsea cables) that they own.
• Geothermal heat pumps: The owner of underground coils can claim the ITC if they own at least one heat pump used in conjunction with the coils.
• Biogas: The final rules clarify what property is qualified biogas property and what is an integral part of qualified biogas property.
• Definition of “energy project”: The final rules revise the definition of energy project to require ownership of the energy properties plus four or more factors from a list of seven factors. They also clarify that taxpayers can assess the factors at any point during construction or during the taxable year energy properties are placed in service.
• Co-located energy storage: The rules clarify that a section 48 credit may be claimed for energy storage technology that is co-located with a qualified facility for which a section 45 credit is claimed.
• Hydrogen storage: Hydrogen energy storage property does not need to store hydrogen that is solely used as energy and not for other purposes.