More than $303 billion in energy financing was deployed in 2023, according to the Sustainable Energy in America 2024 Factbook from The Business Council for Sustainable Energy. The spending followed the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022.
The U.S.’s investment is second globally only to China, which spent $676 billion.
“This is a demand-driven energy transformation accelerated by the public policies that have been adopted,” said Jeannie Salo, vice president for government relations at Schneider Electric, on a call with reporters.
Tax credits and falling emissions
The Biden administration has pledged to cut emissions by 50 to 52 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. BloombergNEF’s analysis shows that 2023 emissions were 16 percent below 2005 levels. The effectiveness of the U.S.’s decarbonization strategy is heavily tied to the IRA’s tax credits, the report states.
These credits led to the announcement of a further $131.4 billion in clean-tech investment, in addition to the previously deployed $303.3 billion, across 28 states, Canada and Mexico.
“Tax credits help renewables overcome economic barriers,” said Tom Rowlands-Rees, head of North America research at BloombergNEF on the same call. “When market factors work against renewables, [tax incentives] can help cushion that blow.”
The report also breaks out how individual states benefit from the IRA and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). Georgia leads the list with $16.9 billion in investments announced post-IRA, followed by North Carolina with $15.4 billion.
“Billions of dollars are flowing into communities across the country … which haven’t necessarily seen the investments [before],” said John Hensley, vice president of markets and policy analysis at the American Clean Power Association. Those investments lead to new jobs, said Hensley. “Eighty percent of [projects and manufacturing facilities] are located in congressional districts held by a Republican representative.”
IRA credits including 45U, a tax credit for electricity generated by a nuclear power facility, and the revised 45Q carbon capture credit, which allots rebates up to as much as $180 per ton of carbon captured are still awaiting final guidance from the IRS, expected to be delivered sometime this year. But if 2023 and the $300 billion of investments serves any indication, there is a massive market opportunity for clean-tech investment in 2024.
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