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14 hours ago
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Trump budget bill would kill subsidies that made home solar mainstream
By Nichola Groom (Reuters) -A last-minute tweak to the Republican budget bill passed by Congress last month would immediately end subsidies for solar leasing companies that help make rooftop systems affordable to homeowners, likely leading to a massive drop in the pace of installations, according to industry representatives. President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," now being taken up by the Republican-controlled Senate, would eliminate a 30% tax credit for solar leasing companies that charge homeowners a monthly fee for panels - one of numerous cuts directed at clean energy subsidies passed by former President Joe Biden. That provision, inserted shortly before the bill passed the House of Representatives on May 22, risks stifling a sector that buys American-made equipment, employs thousands of people and relieves strain on the grid, according to industry backers. "That's one of the harsher components of the one big, beautiful bill currently," said Gabe Rubio, a principal in the business incentives and tax credits practice at professional services firm BDO. Tax credits for homeowners who own their own rooftop systems would also be eliminated. The changes could result in as much as 40% less residential solar capacity being installed over the next five years, according to energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. Solar companies are lobbying the Senate to make changes to the bill before it becomes law. "America's home solar and storage industry is a powerful economic growth engine," Sunrun CEO Mary Powell said in a statement. "Senate Republicans now have an opportunity to advance the administration's energy independence agenda by amending this bill to keep American energy prices low and create well-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs." Trump campaigned on a promise to repeal the clean energy tax credits in Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, arguing they are expensive, unnecessary and harmful to business. Republican backers of the bill say the subsidy cuts would free up billions of dollars for other priorities. More than 5 million U.S. homes have solar panels, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. LAST MINUTE CHANGE An earlier version of the bill had protected the credit for leased solar systems, but fiscal hawks including Representative Chip Roy of Texas have said publicly that they pressed for deeper cuts to clean energy credits at the eleventh hour. Roy's office did not respond to a request for comment. Solar leasing was pioneered two decades ago by companies including Sunrun and SolarCity, which is now owned by Elon Musk's company Tesla, and quickly became the primary way home solar panels were financed. Under the model, solar installers partner with financiers that own the rooftop panels and offset their federal tax bills by claiming the credit. Homeowners either pay a monthly fixed fee to lease the equipment or pay for the electricity the system generates under a power purchase agreement (PPA). In what some analysts have said could be a loophole, the House bill directly references leased systems but does not mention PPAs. About 44% of residential systems sold today are under such arrangements, according to EnergySage, an online solar marketplace. Solar installers say undermining the subsidies could have a ripple effect on U.S. manufacturers that supply them. Freedom Forever, a top privately-held installer based in Temecula, California, said in two years it has gone from using no U.S.-made equipment to now sourcing 85% of it from American facilities. That is thanks to another IRA subsidy that provides bonus 10% tax credits for using American-made equipment. "The administration wants to bring manufacturing back to the United States, and that's what our industry has been doing for the last two to three years," Freedom Forever CEO Brett Bouchy said.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump budget bill would kill subsidies that made home solar mainstream
By Nichola Groom (Reuters) -A last-minute tweak to the Republican budget bill passed by Congress last month would immediately end subsidies for solar leasing companies that help make rooftop systems affordable to homeowners, likely leading to a massive drop in the pace of installations, according to industry representatives. President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," now being taken up by the Republican-controlled Senate, would eliminate a 30% tax credit for solar leasing companies that charge homeowners a monthly fee for panels - one of numerous cuts directed at clean energy subsidies passed by former President Joe Biden. That provision, inserted shortly before the bill passed the House of Representatives on May 22, risks stifling a sector that buys American-made equipment, employs thousands of people and relieves strain on the grid, according to industry backers. "That's one of the harsher components of the one big, beautiful bill currently," said Gabe Rubio, a principal in the business incentives and tax credits practice at professional services firm BDO. Tax credits for homeowners who own their own rooftop systems would also be eliminated. The changes could result in as much as 40% less residential solar capacity being installed over the next five years, according to energy research firm Wood Mackenzie. Solar companies are lobbying the Senate to make changes to the bill before it becomes law. "America's home solar and storage industry is a powerful economic growth engine," Sunrun CEO Mary Powell said in a statement. "Senate Republicans now have an opportunity to advance the administration's energy independence agenda by amending this bill to keep American energy prices low and create well-paying U.S. manufacturing jobs." Trump campaigned on a promise to repeal the clean energy tax credits in Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, arguing they are expensive, unnecessary and harmful to business. Republican backers of the bill say the subsidy cuts would free up billions of dollars for other priorities. More than 5 million U.S. homes have solar panels, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. LAST MINUTE CHANGE An earlier version of the bill had protected the credit for leased solar systems, but fiscal hawks including Representative Chip Roy of Texas have said publicly that they pressed for deeper cuts to clean energy credits at the eleventh hour. Roy's office did not respond to a request for comment. Solar leasing was pioneered two decades ago by companies including Sunrun and SolarCity, which is now owned by Elon Musk's company Tesla, and quickly became the primary way home solar panels were financed. Under the model, solar installers partner with financiers that own the rooftop panels and offset their federal tax bills by claiming the credit. Homeowners either pay a monthly fixed fee to lease the equipment or pay for the electricity the system generates under a power purchase agreement (PPA). In what some analysts have said could be a loophole, the House bill directly references leased systems but does not mention PPAs. About 44% of residential systems sold today are under such arrangements, according to EnergySage, an online solar marketplace. Solar installers say undermining the subsidies could have a ripple effect on U.S. manufacturers that supply them. Freedom Forever, a top privately-held installer based in Temecula, California, said in two years it has gone from using no U.S.-made equipment to now sourcing 85% of it from American facilities. That is thanks to another IRA subsidy that provides bonus 10% tax credits for using American-made equipment. "The administration wants to bring manufacturing back to the United States, and that's what our industry has been doing for the last two to three years," Freedom Forever CEO Brett Bouchy said. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US trade panel's vote paves way for stiff tariffs on many solar imports
By Nichola Groom (Reuters) -The U.S. International Trade Commission determined on Tuesday that domestic solar panel makers were materially harmed or threatened by a flood of cheap imports from four Southeast Asian nations, bringing the United States a step closer to imposing stiff duties on those goods. The "yes" vote by the three-member ITC means the Commerce Department will issue orders to enforce countervailing and anti-dumping tariffs on solar products imported from Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam that the agency finalized last month. The vote resolves a year-old trade case in which American manufacturers accused Chinese companies of flooding the market with unfairly cheap goods from factories in Southeast Asia. Since that time, President Donald Trump has pursued a broad strategy to impose tariffs on imported products to protect manufacturers of U.S.-made goods. The Commerce Department cannot impose tariffs unless the ITC finds that the domestic industry was harmed or threatened by overseas rivals receiving unfair subsidies and dumping products in the U.S. market. The outcome of the vote was posted in a brief notice on the ITC's web site. It was not immediately clear how each commissioner voted. The trade case was brought last year by Korea's Hanwha Qcells, Arizona-based First Solar Inc and several smaller producers seeking to protect billions of dollars in investments in U.S. solar manufacturing. "(Tuesday's) vote leaves no doubt: these Chinese-headquartered companies have been violating trade laws by overwhelming the U.S. market with unfairly cheap, dumped and subsidized solar panels - and they continue to do so from third-party markets around the world, undermining U.S. industrial strategy and stunting new investment," Tim Brightbill, the lead attorney for the petitioning group, the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, said in a statement. "This cannot stand. Our growing American industry deserves - and now will have - the chance to compete fairly," Brightbill said. The vast majority of panels installed in the United States are imported from Asia. In 2022, former President Joe Biden's signature climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act, created a tax credit for clean energy manufacturing, and more than 100 solar factories have been announced or expanded since then, according to the American Clean Power Association trade group. A top U.S. solar trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, said new tariffs would actually harm domestic producers by increasing costs for panel buyers. "(Tuesday's) decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission is concerning for American solar manufacturers and the broader U.S. solar industry," SEIA President Abigail Ross Hopper said in a statement. "The USITC's final affirmative injury determination adds an additional layer of tariffs that will raise costs for the solar products American companies need to build projects and grow domestic manufacturing."
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump administration allows New York offshore wind farm to resume construction
By Nichola Groom (Reuters) -The Trump administration lifted a month-old stop-work order on a major offshore wind facility planned off the coast of New York, the project's developer said on Monday. Norwegian energy company Equinor said construction activities were allowed to resume on Empire Wind, a $5 billion project that is expected to one day provide power for half a million New York homes. "I would like to thank President Trump for finding a solution that saves thousands of American jobs and provides for continued investments in energy infrastructure in the U.S.," Equinor CEO Anders Opedal said in a statement in which he also thanked Norway's leadership for raising the issue with the Trump administration. New York Governor Kathy Hochul was also instrumental in getting the project back on track, Opedal said. Officials from the U.S. Interior Department, which issued the order last month, were not immediately available for comment. Equinor purchased the Empire Wind lease during Trump's first administration in 2017, and the 810-megawatt project was approved under former President Joe Biden in 2023. It is 30% complete, according to the company. But on April 16, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Equinor to halt construction, saying the Biden administration had rushed the project's approval without sufficient environmental analysis. He cited concerns raised in an internal report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which assists the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in permitting offshore wind projects by assessing impacts on marine mammals and fisheries. As of last week, Equinor said it was spending $50 million a week to keep the project afloat and warned it could be canceled within days. Trump has vowed to expand domestic energy production as part of his energy dominance agenda, but wind is excluded from that effort. He issued an executive order on his first day in office pausing new leasing and permitting of wind projects, which he says are ugly, expensive and harmful to wildlife. An industry group praised the administration for lifting the stop-work order. "The administration is clearing the way for major investments to move forward - activating American shipyards, creating high-quality jobs, and accelerating the buildout of infrastructure needed to deliver reliable, domestic energy to the East Coast," National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito said in a statement. "With power demand surging due to AI, data centers, and advanced manufacturing, offshore wind is an important part of an all-of-the-above solution," Milito said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
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US rooftop solar companies say Republican House bill would be a major setback
By Nichola Groom (Reuters) -Companies that put solar panels on U.S. homes say a Republican budget bill advanced in Congress this week would deal a massive blow to the industry by eliminating a generous subsidy for homeowners that had buttressed the industry's growth. The bill would scrap a 30% federal credit for taxpayers who put up rooftop systems, stifling an industry that has grown ten-fold over the last decade and which now employs more than 100,000 workers, industry players said. "It certainly is a giant setback," said Charlie Hadlow, president of EnergySage, an online solar marketplace. "I have solar installers in our large network passing around the contact information for bankruptcy attorneys. That's not alarmist, that's happening." Many of the biggest residential solar markets are in states that voted for President Donald Trump, including Texas, Florida and Arizona, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group. The House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee voted this week to allow the 25D tax credit to expire at the end of this year, nine years earlier than planned, as part of a Republican effort to roll back subsidies from former President Joe Biden's signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. A spokesperson for Republicans on the committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The bill still has several hurdles to clear before getting a broad package of tax cuts, spending hikes and safety-net reductions through Congress. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump wants to undo federal regulations and programs introduced by Biden that are aimed at expanding clean energy and combating climate change. More than half of residential installations qualify for the 25D tax credit, according to EnergySage, which estimates that rooftop systems will be about $8,000 or $9,000 more expensive without it. The subsidy has been critical for small installers whose customers pay cash or take out loans and then claim the credit on their tax returns. For panels that are owned by a third party, such as a bank, and leased to homeowners, system owners are able to claim a separate tax credit that the House bill would leave in place until 2032 but start to phase out in 2029. That market is dominated by large players like Sunrun. "You want to just place a larger burden on the regular Joe who pays taxes? It doesn't seem fair," said Jack Ramsey, CEO of Altsys Solar in Tulare, California. Ramsey anticipates cutting his nine-person staff to four or five people if the credit is eliminated. At the end of 2024, the U.S. boasted 36 gigawatts of residential solar capacity, up from 3 GW in 2014 and a level equivalent to a third of the nation's nuclear power capacity. Rooftop solar accounts for more than a third of solar industry jobs, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. Rob Kaercher, CEO of Absolute Solar in Lansing, Michigan, has 24 employees and wants to hire more, but will not if the credit goes away. "I strongly urge the credits to be maintained, because it would do a tremendous amount for local businesses just like ours to be able to continue to hire and grow," Kaercher told reporters. The move to eliminate the credit caught many in the industry off guard. Thomas Clark, the owner of Northstone Solar in Whitefish, Montana, met with staff from his state's Congressional delegation in Washington earlier this year and came away from the meeting feeling the credit was safe. "Obviously this happening so quickly after those meetings really hurts as a constituent," Clark said. Sign in to access your portfolio
