The US Senate has passed a legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), that provides for $369billion in energy security and climate change investment over the next 10 years.
The Inflation Reduction Act also includes healthcare, tax reform and deficit reduction provisions. It now must be passed by the House of Representatives before being signed into law by President Joe Biden.
The legislation is said to be the single largest investment by the Biden administration in climate and energy in US history, just as its passage in Senate was hailed by clean energy industry groups.
The legislation aims at extending and expanding a number of existing renewable energy credits and creates new tax credits to support investments in clean energy technologies or energy generation. It seeks to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030.
The American Clean Power Association (ACP), said the legislation could create 550,000 clean energy jobs by 2030. The Association chief executive, Heather Zichal was quoted saying, “The IRA will lower consumer costs, enhance grid reliability, and strengthen the nation’s energy security.
“It will expand our domestic manufacturing base, inject nearly half a trillion dollars into US GDP over the next decade and create more than half a million new jobs – more than doubling today’s clean energy workforce.”
In another commentary, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said the bill, which includes long-term solar and storage tax incentives and investments in domestic solar manufacturing, is the “most transformational investment” in the US climate future.
The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) said the $369-billion investment in climate and clean energy programmes will “help deploy thousands of megawatts of renewable power, create hundreds of thousands of good-paying American jobs, reduce the cost of electric power, and finally put the country on track toward achievement of our climate goals.”
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