US’ Tax Credit Incentives For Standalone Energy Storage Begins A New Era.

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• US’ Tax Credit Incentives For Standalone Energy Storage Begins A New Era.

• Meme Of The Week.

• India Makes $2.3 Billion Green Hydrogen Push To Meet Climate Goals.

• Quick And Clean Weekly Bites.

US’ Tax Credit Incentives For Standalone Energy Storage Begins A New Era.

The Inflation Reduction Act’s incentives for energy storage projects in the US came into effect on 1 January 2023.

Standing out among those measures is the availability of an investment tax credit (ITC) for investment in renewable energy projects being extended to include standalone energy storage facilities.

Alongside the rest of the act’s US$369 billion package of climate spending, the change has been forecast to transform the US clean energy industry, bringing certainty for investment into deployment as well as manufacturing.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and primarily the storage ITC, have prompted analysts at the likes of BloombergNEF and Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables to up their forecasts for energy storage installations significantly.

Previously, storage projects were only eligible for an ITC if paired directly with solar PV and the storage system charged directly from the solar.

The standalone option now decouples developers from this need, opening the possibility of charging directly from the grid and reducing the development timeline of storage projects, which require far less land than solar-plus-storage. Energy storage projects of 5kWh or more will be eligible.

The change brings the industry “to the next level,” according to American Clean Power Association energy storage VP Jason Burwen, who was formerly interim CEO of the national Energy Storage Association before the merger of the two trade associations at the start of last year.

Meme Of The Week.

India Makes $2.3 Billion Green Hydrogen Push To Meet Climate Goals.

India has announced a $2.3 billion plan to support the production, use and export of green hydrogen, aiming to make India a global hub for this upcoming industry.

The initiative will help India reach its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2070.

The aim of the funding initiative is “to make green hydrogen affordable and bring down its cost over the next five years. It will also help India reduce its emissions and become a major exporter in the field,” said Anurag Thakur, India’s minister for information and broadcasting. He said the financing would also help add about 125 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity by 2030. As of October, India had about 166 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity.

Other aims are to create more than a half million new jobs, attract more private investment into the sector, reduce fossil fuel imports, and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 million metric tons.

Quick And Clean Weekly Bites.

• Ireland’s citizens’ assembly on biodiversity loss has called on the government to hold a referendum on protecting biodiversity. If it goes ahead it could enshrine the protection of biodiversity in the Irish constitution. This would mean granting nature rights comparable to people. Link.

• A Belgian NGO is using human hair clippings to absorb environmental pollutants. The hair is turned into matted squares, which can be used to absorb oil and other hydrocarbons. The mats can be placed in drains to soak up pollution in water before it reaches a river. They can also be used to deal with pollution problems due to flooding and to clean up oil spills. Link.