At the end of 2016, federal tax credits expired for a number of clean energy technologies other than wind and solar.  These included the investment tax credit (ITC), production tax credit (PTC), and several other credits for renewable energy and efficiency technologies.  Many of the industries that utilized these credits have been working to secure a renewal of these incentives.

On June 22, 2017, Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced a bipartisan bill  that would renew and expand the expired Section 48 Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Section 25D residential tax credit for clean energy technologies. The Technologies for Energy Security Act would amend the current tax code (summarized in this table) in the following ways:

• Retroactively extend the Sec. 48 ITC for fuel cells, small wind, combined heat and power, microturbines, and thermal energy through 2021
• Gradually reduce the credits for technologies that initially qualified at the 30% level, on the same schedule as currently provided for solar power
• Increase the geothermal electric ITC from 10% to 30%, with a gradual reduction akin to solar power
• Add Waste Heat to Power as a qualifying technology for the Sec. 48 ITC
• Extend the Sec. 25D residential credit for these technologies through 2021, with a gradual reduction akin to solar power

This legislation is similar, but not identical, to H.R. 1090 (Rep. Tom Reed, R-NY), a House bill of the same name that would extend Sec. 48 and 25D. The CEBN will continue to keep members posted on new developments concerning energy-related tax issues.

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The Clean Energy Business Network (CEBN) works to advance the clean energy economy through policy, public education, and business support for small- and medium-size energy companies. Started in 2009 by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the CEBN is now a small business division of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. The CEBN represents 3,000+ business leaders across all 50 U.S. states working with a broad range of clean energy and transportation technologies.