Washington,
D.C.–Today,
U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Finance
Committee, and U.S. Senate Finance Committee member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode
Island) released a discussion draft of the Energy Sector Innovation Credit
(ESIC) Act, a bipartisan energy tax proposal to encourage innovation in the
clean energy sector.
“The U.S. is a leader in energy production because our robust
economy allows for innovation and pathways to clean energy solutions,” Crapo
said. “But if we are to meet long-term emissions targets without
sacrificing affordable electricity, we need to invest in on-the-horizon
technologies that can accomplish our environmental goals, create good-paying
American jobs and meet our energy demand. This proposal incentivizes
technology-wide clean energy innovation so new, clean technologies can rapidly
scale up and compete independently in the market. Moreover, the credits
scale down as technologies’ market share ramps up, so taxpayer dollars do not
subsidize market-mature technologies. I look
forward to continuing the conversation on how we can spur emerging clean energy
investment.”
“We have
plenty of good ideas for clean energy technology to battle climate change; the
challenge is bringing them online quickly enough to make a difference.
That’s why we need proposals like this one,” Whitehouse said. “Our
legislation will hit the accelerator on promising new sources of clean energy,
and help those technologies compete with heavy-polluting sources on the open
market. I’m glad to partner with Senator Crapo in beginning work on this
bipartisan bill, and look forward to strengthening it as others weigh in.”
The
Energy Sector Innovation Credit is a technology-inclusive, flexible investment
tax credit (ITC) or production tax credit (PTC) designed to promote innovation
across a range of clean energy technologies, including generation, storage,
carbon capture and hydrogen production. ESIC:
- Promotes
clean energy innovation by allowing up to a 40 percent ITC or 60 percent
PTC for low market penetration technologies across a range of energy
sources, including renewables, fossil fuels, and nuclear. - Phases out credits as technologies mature,
which provides an on-ramp for the most innovative technologies to get to market
and then compete on their own, rather than allowing Congress to pick
winners and losers when temporary credits expire. - Groups
technologies that are substantively different from one another as
determined by experts at the Department of Energy (DOE), national labs and
other stakeholders. - Provides
flexibility for unforeseen clean energy technologies to be eligible for
ESIC by including an expedited-consideration provision for Congress to
take up new technology recommendations from DOE.
Read the
ESIC discussion draft HERE.
Access a one-pager of the proposal HERE.
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