2024 program year has received over 50,000 applications to date; 2023 program year resulted in $3.5 billion in clean energy investments from more than 49,000 solar facilities in low-income communities
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE), announced that Treasury and IRS have received over 50,000 applications requesting over 6 gigawatts of capacity for clean energy projects across the country so far in the 2024 Program Year of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program under Section 48(e) of the Internal Revenue Code. In order to process all applications and allocate capacity, 2024 Program Year applications for projects located in a low-income community, qualified low-income residential building projects, and qualified low-income economic benefit projects (Categories 1, 3, and 4) will be accepted on a rolling basis until October 10, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET. DOE will accept applications on a rolling basis for projects located on Indian Lands (Category 2) until November 12, 2024 at 11:59 PM ET.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act has driven historic investments in new clean power in communities that have been overlooked and left out for too long,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “Lowering household energy bills and continuing to drive new investment to these communities will remain our priority in the second year of this groundbreaking program.”
Applications for the 2024 Program Year will continue to be accepted on a rolling basis until the respective deadlines. Updates about how much capacity remains available by category can be accessed via the program capacity dashboard on the DOE program homepage.
Treasury and IRS anticipate releasing information about reallocations of remaining unallocated capacity in the coming weeks. After the 2024 Program Year applications have been processed, applications that do not receive an allocation will be withdrawn. Applicants that remain eligible may reapply. Treasury and the IRS anticipate allocating the annual 1.8 gigawatts of capacity amongst all categories and sub-categories for the 2025 Program Year, the first year of the Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program under Section 48E(h).
The closure of the application window for the 2024 Program Year comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s recent release of proposed guidance for the Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program, which builds on and opens the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program to additional clean energy technologies beyond wind and solar such as hydropower and geothermal. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is open for comment until October 3.
In its first year, the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program resulted in more than $3.5 billion in clean energy investments in more than 49,000 solar facilities in low-income communities across the country, as detailed in a new report recently released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. These installations are expected to fund the generation of close to 2 billion kilowatt hours of clean electricity each year in low-income communities. That is equivalent to the total annual electricity use of 200,000 average-sized U.S. households, or about $270 million annually at typical retail rates.
The Biden-Harris Administration remains focused on lowering costs for low-income communities and households and helping ensure that they share in the benefits of the growth of the clean energy economy.
The IRS Final Regulations for the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program under Section 48(e), Frequently Asked Questions, and other resources can be found on the DOE program homepage.
###