Tax provisions announced on 17 December in the US left out any mention of a standalone energy storage ITC, with the CEO of industry body the Energy Storage Association registering the disappointment of the group’s 180 member organisations.
While the solar investment tax credit had enjoyed a somewhat unexpected extension in 2017 to 2020, this time around there was no reprieve and the ITC will decrease at the end of 2019. Only the production tax credit (PTC) for onshore wind received a one-year extension, while both electric vehicles (EVs) and standalone energy storage miss out completely once again.
Within the existing ITC framework, energy storage did qualify for tax credit incentives – but only if installed with solar, and only if installed at the same time as solar. The latter stipulation thereby wiped out any potential extra value or impetus that could have been added for retrofit installations of batteries to existing PV systems, for example. Various sources in the industry had said that they were hopeful of an ITC, including Stem Inc’s Alan Russo, who told Energy-Storage.news the company had been “cautiously optimistic”.
Energy Storage Association CEO Kelly Speakes-Backman, a former state utilities commissioner, said in a statement that the group is disappointed but not dissuaded from continuing efforts to introduce an ITC.
“We are disappointed in the tax provisions announced this morning that omitted a provision for stand-alone energy storage. This was a clear opportunity for Congress to address the urgent challenges of climate change and to support clean energy innovation. The Energy Storage Incentive and Deployment Act of 2019 is a bipartisan measure to level the playing field for energy storage technologies that enable a more resilient, efficient and sustainable grid.
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