By Kat Friedrich September 20, 2024
Solar panels provide energy at a California agricultural business. (Credit: Aziz Shamuratov)
What attention-getting developments are happening in federal clean energy legislation in the United States this year?
Daniel Bresette, president of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), said legislators are interested in “a lot of different clean energy topics… at a high level.” The Farm Bill, which authorizes agricultural funding, is “contributing to enthusiasm.” The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) investments are rolling out.
“It feels like every day, there’s another announcement from [the U.S. Department of Energy] (DOE) or from another agency about an award or a grant or a funding opportunity announcement,” Bresette said.
What’s happening with the Farm Bill? According to Bresette, it should have been enacted in 2023, but has been given a one-year extension. “Things have really started to pick up in activity.”
The House Agriculture Committee has released legislative text for the bill. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, released a section-by-section summary in May.1 Senator John Boozman (R-Ark.) released another one in June.2 Many advocates are working on the Farm Bill.
The energy measures in the Farm Bill include the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which supports clean energy deployment in rural areas, such as solar panels for agricultural businesses, Bresette said. This program was also funded by the IRA. EESI has published a side-by-side comparison for REAP.3, 4
A program that Bresette has a “soft spot for” is the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP), which is a loan program for electric co-ops and other borrowers that has traditionally focused on efficiency and electrification. (It can also be used for solar power, energy storage and EV charging.)
The loans come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The proceeds of the loans are used for on-bill financing, in which utilities pay for energy upgrades and then charge their customers for them. These programs support rural economic development.
According to EESI’s side-by-side comparison file for RESP, “The House Agriculture Committee discussion draft proposes to add limitations on eligible borrowers, [codify] ‘green banks’ as eligible borrowers, add manufactured home replacements to the list of eligible measures with limitations, extend repayment terms for loans to qualified customers, provide grants to borrowers for certain purposes with limitations, and reauthorize the program through 2029.”5
Bresette said it is unlikely that changes will be made to the IRA this year. The act is popular because of the tax benefits it provides, which people may not want to lose. “I think it’s more durable than people might say.”
“That doesn’t mean that we’re… prancing around the office… celebrating the… 10-year time frame of the IRA,” Bresette said.
Federal agencies have been trying to accelerate their timetables and deadlines for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Solar for All and other programs.
“There is kind of this element of a ticking clock this decade,” Bresette said. “It would be nice… to have the incentives fully rolled out and the programs fully rolled out, but that’s really difficult to do. And in some cases, it requires a lot of coordination between the federal government and states. It would always be nice to always be on time or even a little early, but that’s easier said than done.”
“I think the [IRA] put a lot on the [DOE] to get right, and I think that required a lot of… reorganization,” Bresette said. “And it required the agency to learn how to do a lot of new things and then apply its ways of doing things to new activities.”
A lot of the IRA programs that will reach ordinary people are still being deployed, Bresette said. Some of the state funding has been awarded.
Bresette said the federal government is working on innovative financing for clean energy in general. “USDA at this point has deployed almost a half of or about a half a billion dollars to co-ops and other RESP active borrowers.”
The DOE Loan Programs Office has been taking the lead in supporting many constructive financing goals across quite a few technologies, according to an interview on the EESI website.6
What has the EPA been accomplishing recently related to clean energy?
The EPA has announced the deployment of its Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and has been working on a green bank, Bresette said. It is innovating to bring financing to low-to-moderate-income communities and Justice40 communities.
According to the EESI website, Justice40 “aims to target 40% of the benefits from specific federal investments — such as those for clean energy, energy efficiency and water infrastructure — to ‘disadvantaged communities.’”7
“Some communities have been negatively and disproportionately impacted for decades,” Bresette said. “And the amount of harm that they’ve suffered requires more than, you know, a couple years worth of investments. It can’t just be for a short period of time.”
Is it possible that there might be any changes to Justice40 in the near future?
Bresette did not mention any. According to him, Justice40 is a priority of the Biden Administration that requires focus and intention. Minimizing negative impacts on communities that have faced inequities is a long-term goal that will take sustained work. “It’s hard to look at Justice40 and not see a lot of potential.”
It remains to be seen how the election may affect this program, as well as other federal activities. New appointees, policies and legislation may come into the picture.
Sources
- https://tinyurl.com/3bawbwrc
- https://tinyurl.com/4wyrdxfp
- https://tinyurl.com/mr2nhrwc
- https://tinyurl.com/3652xkeb
- https://tinyurl.com/yfznmtpw
- https://tinyurl.com/b99tmmjk
- https://tinyurl.com/5fjnvzv3
About the Author
Kat Friedrich is the editor in chief of Solar Today. She is also a contributor at Supercluster, Offsite Builder and PCI Journal. She has edited seven news publications, is a former mechanical engineer, and has two degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a professional member of the American Solar Energy Society.