26 Mar
Washington, D.C. (March 26, 2021) — On Friday, March 26, 2021, Senator Heinrich (D-NM) reintroduced the Electric Power Infrastructure Improvement Act to establish a tax credit for interregional transmission lines. The investment tax credit would immediately stimulate the types of transmission projects that are not moving forward today, and which are needed to grow clean energy and the associated transmission and renewable generation jobs. It would also directly benefit electric customers, as the credit would be passed through in the form of lower rates.
“We are thrilled to see the introduction of Senator Heinrich’s transmission tax credit bill and we appreciate his continued leadership in transmission. There is currently no functioning way to recover costs of large scale regional and interregional transmission. Allocating the costs across the hundreds of utilities and participants in electric power markets is the main barrier to the kind of transmission needed for reliability, resilience, and clean energy expansion,” said Rob Gramlich, Executive Director of Americans for a Clean Energy Grid. “This tax credit would help tremendously by providing a federal co-pay, to alleviate the cost allocation challenge and move transmission forward. There are around 20 large scale projects around the country that could advance with this tax credit over the next few years. ACEG will be producing a report soon describing these projects and the status of transmission development.”
The bill amends to the Internal Revenue Code of 198 to establish a tax credit for installation of regionally significant electric power transmission lines. The amendment of the tax credit would include:
- Investment tax credit of 30 percent
- Limited only to the types of projects that are needed and not moving forward today – the high-capacity regional and interregional lines – those with a minimum rated voltage of 275 kiloVolts.
According to numerous studies, the U.S. will need to expand electricity transmission by 2-3 times to meet decarbonization goals. This investment tax credit for transmission would incentivize approval and construction of large-scale lines needed to integrate renewable resources and enhance the resiliency of the system.
About Americans for a Clean Energy Grid:
Americans for a Clean Energy Grid (ACEG) is the only non-profit broad-based public interest advocacy coalition focused on the need to expand, integrate, and modernize the North American high-voltage grid. ACEG brings together the diverse support for an expanded and modernized grid from business, labor, consumer and environmental groups, and other transmission supporters to support policy which recognizes the benefits of a robust transmission grid. For more information, please visit cleanenergygrid.org
Media Contact:
Nicolette Santos, Communications Associate
nicolette@dgardiner.com | (626) 862-8464 (c)
