Microgrid Knowledge outlined a new bill in Congress to establish a 30% microgrid tax credit, quoting AEE’s Leah Rubin Shen on existing tax credits. Read snippets below and the full story here. 

A California congressman has introduced a bill into the US House of Representatives that would create a 30% microgrid tax credit.

The tax credit would run through 2025 and then phase down each year to 10% by 2028 and sunset in 2029.

Unlike existing federal tax credits for wind and solar, the microgrid tax credit could be taken as a direct payment by governments and nonprofits…

Biden’s infrastructure plan includes a 10-year extension of production and investment tax credits for renewable energy generation and fuel cells. The plan extends the tax credit to energy storage. It also creates a tax incentive for producing hydrogen using carbon-free electricity. Biden also wants to provide a direct pay alternative to the tax credits.

Tax credits have been an effective policy mechanism for supporting the deployment of advanced energy technologies, according to Leah Rubin Shen, federal policy director for Advanced Energy Economy, a trade group.

The inclusion of a direct pay option in the bill is particularly helpful, as increased pressure on the tax equity market is making it difficult to use existing tax credits, Rubin Shen said.

“The reliable and resilient grid of the future will require deploying a wide range of diverse technologies — including microgrids — and we are optimistic that all of those technologies will be part of the legislation emerging from Congress,” Rubin Shen said.

Read the full article here.