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Renewable Energy Group Suggests Guidance Priorities

MAY 28, 2021

Renewable Energy Group Suggests Guidance Priorities

DATED MAY 28, 2021
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May 28, 2021

Office of the Associate Chief Counsel (Procedure and Administration)
Attention: Emily M. Lesniak
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224

Internal Revenue Service
Attn: CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2021-28) Room 5203
P.O. Box 7604 Ben Franklin Station
Washington, D.C. 20044

Re: IRS Notice 2021‐28, Priority Guidance for 2021‐2022

Ms. Lesniak:

I am writing on behalf of the American Clean Power Association1 (ACP) in response to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2021-28 requesting recommendations for items to be included in the 2021-2022 Priority Guidance Plan.2

The ACP recommendations below for priority guidance would help ensure wind and solar energy projects that have qualified for production tax credits (PTC) or investment tax credits (ITC) by starting construction under current guidance are able to meet the continuity requirements of such guidance in light of ongoing pandemic-related delays and disruption. The requests below are consistent with President Biden's climate executive order to “accelerate the advancement of America's . . . domestic clean energy . . .”3

Clean energy industries (wind, solar, storage) currently support more than 300,000 jobs for Americans, cut carbon emissions by 245 million metric tons per year (equivalent to 52 million cars off the road), and strengthen communities by paying $2.4 billion per year to landowners and in state and local taxes. That is just the beginning. Analysis from Wood Mackenzie 4 commissioned by ACP finds that achieving the carbon reductions called for by President Biden and the resulting majority clean energy grid will result in $1 trillion of investment in the United States and nearly 1 million direct clean energy jobs over the next decade. This investment and job creation can help our nation recover from the serious pandemic-induced economic challenges.

ACP makes the following recommendations for priority guidance:

  • Notice 2020-41: ACP reiterates a previous recommendation that Treasury and the IRS publish revisions to Notice 2020-41 with respect to the continuity safe harbors for wind and solar projects, as well as continuous efforts for all projects, before the end of June 2021.

  • Notice 2021-05: ACP recommends Treasury and the IRS clarify the scope and definitions in Notice 2021-05, including with respect to federal lands and transmission.

  • Section 48 Guidance: ACP recommends that Treasury and the IRS expand their current guidance project regarding the definition of qualified property within the meaning of section 48 to include a consideration of offshore wind facilities. Specifically, guidance should clarify the qualification of export cables to shore and project substations and transformers on shore that are inside an offshore facility's perimeter.

Thank you for your consideration of ACP's recommendations for priority guidance. Sincerely,

Tom Vinson
Vice President, Policy and Regulatory Affairs
American Clean Power Association
Washington, DC

FOOTNOTES

1 ACP is the national trade association representing the renewable energy industry in the United States, bringing together over 1,000 member companies and a national workforce located across all 50 states with a common interest in encouraging the deployment and expansion of renewable energy resources in the United States. By uniting the power of wind, solar, storage, and transmission companies and their allied industries, we are enabling the transformation of the U.S. power grid to a low-cost, reliable, and renewable power system. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) merged into ACP on January 1, 2021. Additional information is available at http://www.cleanpower.org.

2 Available at: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-21-28.pdf

3 Executive Order 14008, available at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/02/01/2021-02177/tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad

END FOOTNOTES

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