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Jun 29, 2025

Solar credit cuts hurt solar projects, senators say

Cuts to renewable energy credits in the budgets proposed by House and Senate Republicans would put at risk hundreds of solar projects at schools, say Democrats opposed to repealing the incentives.

Cuts to renewable energy credits in the budgets proposed by House and Senate Republicans would put at risk hundreds of solar projects at schools, say Democrats opposed to repealing the incentives.

That includes seven solar panel projects at elementary schools in Massachusetts, according to Senators Ed Markey, Chuck Schumer, and Ron Wyden, who compiled a list of schools with solar installations in the works in a letter sent Friday to Republican House and Senate leadership and President Trump.

“Clean energy projects can reduce monthly energy costs, allowing schools to spend more on supporting students, faculty, and staff,” the senators said in the letter. “With its draconian cuts to solar energy incentives, the Republican reconciliation bill promises to stall ongoing state and school district solar projects, disrupt their investments, and eliminate an essential cost-saving tool.”

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The incentives Republicans aim to roll back are part of the clean energy spending in former president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022. More than 250 solar projects bolstered by those green energy credits are in process at schools across the country, the senators said.

How quickly the budget reconciliation bill would phase out the credits is uncertain.

A House version would require that wind and solar projects eligible for tax credits to begin construction on a tight schedule, within 60 days of the bill’s passage, to qualify.

A Senate version released late Friday would require that the projects come online by 2027 to be eligible for clean energy tax credits.

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Deadlines like those would be too tight to hit for many projects that had already been planned, experts have said. The Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, said Saturday that the Senate proposal amounts to “a direct attack on American energy” and that it “guts” the country’s green energy industry.

Under the Biden-era law, schools can use the green energy incentives by receiving funds from the federal government that offset a portion of the cost of buying and installing solar panels.

Advocates say solar infrastructure allows schools to save on energy costs long-term. It has also given schools room in their budgets to buy things like more efficient buses and new HVAC systems, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, in a statement.

“School districts across the country have been using clean energy tax credits to lower their energy costs and upgrade their facilities,” Weingarten said. “We urge Republican leaders to abandon their efforts to end these tax credits.”

The letter identified seven solar projects at Massachusetts elementary schools in Westwood, Winchester, North Adams, Maynard, Brookline, New Bedford, and Amherst.

Getting rid of the credits, the senators say, puts projects like those at risk.

“Projects that are not able to commence construction before proposed repeals take effect risk delay, wasted local and state investments in project development, higher energy costs, and increased burden on taxpayers,” the letter reads.

Other solar projects identified in the letter were in both red and blue states. Pennsylvania, with 74 of them in various stages of development, had the most, followed by Arizona, which had 53, according to the letter, which said the list likely undercounted the number of projects under development.

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The reconciliation bill may come up for a vote soon. Republicans have set a self-imposed July 4 deadline to pass it.

Spencer Buell can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @SpencerBuell.