By Cornell University Stephan Schwartz
The latest version of the Senate bill includes a new excise tax on wind and solar projects with certain Chinese components, which would struggle to find equipment from other countries due to China鈥檚 dominance of the solar supply chain.
The bill would also roll back clean energy tax credits sooner than the House version, requiring wind and solar projects to be fully operational by the end of 2027 to qualify for incentives, which would threaten billions of dollars of investments and hobble energy development.
Industry experts and advocates estimate that the new tax would raise costs on American clean energy companies by $4 billion to $7 billion in the next 10 years, resulting in a 10% to 20% increase in the cost of building wind and solar, and preventing 300 gigawatts of wind and solar from being brought online within the next 15 years.