Advertorial 2023 Clean Energy Thoughts … From a WGA Innovation Center Pioneer Repeat Message… Don’t Miss This!
by Elliot Jaramillo www.ConceptCleanEnergy.com
In August of 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Recovery Act (“IRA”) of 2022. Over the next 10 years, the IRA Act will allocate approximately $369 Billion Dollars to “Energy Security and Climate Change.” A primary goal of this legislation is to increase clean energy production and
reduce carbon emissions roughly 40% by 2030. By any measure, $369,000,000,000 is a substantial amount of money. The unprecedented opportunity for Western Growers ’ members is that, unlike so many other legislative bills, where large government investments have been earmarked for special interests or otherwise accessible to only select (large) corporations, the capital allocated by this IRA legislation is funded primarily in the form of simple to understand and simple to utilize Investment Tax Credits. This means that these IRA funds are fully accessible to any person or company, large or small, willing to make an investment in qualifying clean energy, which includes solar assets. Prior to the passage of this Inflation Recovery Act, Federal tax credits for solar energy were scheduled to be reduced to 22% in 2023, then further step down to just 10% in 2024. Large utility companies, such as PG&E, were banking on this funding reduction in hopes of further slowing down the development of investor-owned clean energy. With the passage of the IRA, however, the Federal Government has increased the Investment Tax Credit to 30% for the next 10 years (+) plus a 10% BONUS tax credit for projects that utilize American products and meet certain domestic manufacturing guidelines. This means qualifying solar energy projects can now earn a whopping 40% Federal Tax Credit. To be clear, unlike a tax deduction, this Federal Investment Tax Credit (“ITC”) is a direct dollar-for- dollar reduction in project cost. As part of the IRA, the Federal Government has also made it simpler to allocate these valuable tax credits to the entities or individuals within a company or farming operation who may need them most. The new IRA40% Investment Tax Credit provides WGA taxpayers with an unprecedented opportunity to leverage smart, proactive investment and tax planning to drastically reduce Federal liabilities over the next decade.
For our product, this 40% Federal Tax Credit is a game-changer. Over the past six years of being a WGA Innovation Center company, our team has worked closely with leading WGA members to develop an exciting product that is now being rolled out nationally in partnership with Nucor steel, the largest steel company in the USA. Our product, PowerShingle ® , solves a major industry challenge, enabling us to build solar installations in the form of highly useful elevated canopies and provide massive amounts of reliable, low-cost clean energy, all without taking any land out of production. Yes… solar energy is a fantastic resource. But today’s solar installations often require large swaths of land to produce meaningful amounts of electricity. PowerShingle ® , on the other hand, can generate 1MW of clean power (enough to run an efficient cooler operation) in as little as 1.5 acres. It can also be scaled to provide power for many off-grid and remote farming operations where traditional grid power would simply be too costly. By combining Nucor’s pre-engineered metal building expertise with PowerShingle’s cutting edge solar technology, we are able to deploy large installations and design solutions to meet your operations and provide multiple benefits of shade, shelter, storage and clean power for virtually any farming operations. PowerShingle ® is proudly 100% manufactured in America and can help WGA members meet Inflation Reduction Act guidelines while providing an elegant, beautiful solution that will enhance virtually any farming operation. ------ Elliot Jaramillo is the CEO of Concept Clean Energy and nearly a decade long WGA member. Elliot loves talking with WGA farmers about energy challenges. For more info, or to reach out to Elliot directly, feel free to call or email him at: (510) 813-0935 / elliot@conceptcleanenergy.com
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