The bipartisan infrastructure deal is heading for debate in the Senate with key clean energy provisions.
An Olympic first: Tokyo’s torch is powered partly by hydrogen — produced with carbon-free energy.
Today at noon: Join Spencer Nelson, our Senior Research Director, for a conversation on bipartisan support for clean energy innovation policies. Register here
1. The missing piece of our clean-energy market puzzle
Congress could be poised to pass the Energy Sector Innovation Credit, offering a path to commercialization for breakthrough clean energy technologies.
Rich’s take: It’s a real game-changing market signal for private-sector innovators, helping them overcome the initial financing hurdles of developing first-of-a-kind technology.
The path ahead: ESIC’s prospects look good, given its bipartisan, bicameral support and the heavy hitters behind it:
Authors: Senate Finance Committee members Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) … House Ways & Means members Tom Reed (R-NY) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA).
Senate co-sponsors: Finance Committee members John Barrasso (R-WY) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) … Energy and Natural Resources Committee members Jim Risch (R-ID) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO).
House co-sponsors: Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL) … Tom Suozzi (D-NY) … David Schweikert (R-AZ) … Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) … and Michael Burgess (R-TX).
How it works: The bill establishes a technology-neutral, flexible investment tax credit (ITC) or production tax credit (PTC) for new approaches to everything from generation and storage to carbon capture.
The credit is proportional to how much a project earns from market sales, preventing “negative pricing” distortions other credits have had on power markets.
It levels the playing field with established technologies, helping newcomers stay competitive until they can prove market-fit.
Incentives sunset automatically when new technologies find their footing, not at an arbitrary date like traditional energy credits.
Zoom out: This credit could be key to U.S. climate targets, incentivizing deep power-grid emissions cuts through gigawatts of new clean energy generation.
2. A clear look at federal incentives for clean energy
Our Executive Director Rich Powelltestified before the House Climate Select Committee that today’s clean energy technology isn’t enough for global decarbonization, calling for investments in breakthroughs that offer both better performance and lower costs.
Rich’s take: No tax or domestic regulation will magically halt economy-wide emissions around the world.
“We must focus on strengthening the American economy — not ceding ground to China or Russia.”
Rich’s rec: Congress must lean into innovation with policies that take new tech from basic and applied R&D into commercialization.
45Q is the big one, perhaps the single most useful tool in spurring new carbon capture projects through tax incentives.
ESIC is next, and equally critical.
3. Faster than a speeding bullet — “SUPER Act” clears Committee
The steel decarbonization bill Reps. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH) and Conor Lamb (D-PA) introduced last week has already passed out of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
That speed reflects broad support from both parties and builds on momentum in the private sector to reduce emissions and strengthen the competitiveness of American steel.
We’ve seen big, voluntary corporate commitments over the past year, including from U.S. Steel, Cleveland-Cliffs, and Nucor.
DOE also boosted innovations in iron and steelmaking with $21 million in awards.
Zoom out: There’s “no silver bullet” for rising industrial emissions — which now make up 27% of the U.S. total, vs. 28% for the power sector — “but there are lots of buckshot technologies” that could help, writes ClearPath policy analyst Savvy Bowman.
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5. ClearPath @ Aspen Institute Energy Week
That’s Rich Powell, Maggie Carroll, and Spencer Nelson between panels where they discussed our first-of-a-kind report on the latest power sector trends and future tech and policy impacts.
Get your hands on it next Friday, when we publish A Clear Path to a Clean Energy Future.
6. Coming down the pipeline
August 6 – NARUC and DOE continue their nuclear energy partnership webinar series with a forum on grid reliability and resilience in Puerto Rico and the Pacific Northwest.
