Obama Administration Announces New Competitive Funding Available for Manufacturing Tax Credit


WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tax credits are available for viable businesses to create clean energy manufacturing jobs. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) applauded a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announcement that the Obama Administration will make $150 million in advanced energy manufacturing tax credits (48C) available for manufacturers to compete. Brown authored the Security in Energy and Manufacturing (SEAM) Act, which would extend the 48C program. Currently, 70 percent of clean energy components are manufactured outside of the United States.

"Clean energy is the future of American manufacturing," Brown said. "Ohio already has a skilled workforce and a rich manufacturing heritage. The Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit will help more American manufacturers create jobs through the production of cutting-edge energy technologies.”

To be eligible for the tax credit, manufacturers must produce solar, wind, and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, microturbines, and batteries; electric cars; electric grids; energy conservation technologies; and equipment that captures and sequesters carbon dioxide or reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

 

The initial tax credit, which was included in the Recovery Act, supported seven Ohio projects totaling nearly $125 million in tax credits; dozens more eligible projects applied for funding and were denied due to a lack of funds. DOE states that the program was more than three times oversubscribed. Nationwide, DOE deemed 418 projects eligible, which amounts to $5.8 billion in unfunded eligible applications. These manufacturers are waiting in the pipeline, and would be ready to break ground soon after they receive funding.

 

Brown is the leading congressional champion of the 48C tax credit. The 48C program provides a 30 percent credit for domestic companies that invest in new, expanded, or reequipped clean energy manufacturing projects. The program is aimed at building domestic capacity to meet this new and growing source of demand.

 

Brown has repeatedly called for the expansion of the 48C program. In April 2010, Brown led a letter with 10 U.S. Senators calling for climate legislation to provide assistance for manufacturers by expanding the 48C program. The same month, Brown joined Ron Bloom, former White House Senior Counselor for Manufacturing Policy, to hold a roundtable with central Ohio manufacturers at Edison Welding Institute in Columbus. Sen. Brown also met with southeastern Ohio manufacturers at a Thermo Fisher plant in Marietta.

 

More information is available on the IRS website HERE.

 

 

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