What's New:
Republican lawmakers in the Senate released their draft of the "One Big, Beautiful Bill" this week. They kept most of the House's clean-energy rollbacks and made some minor changes. For residential and commercial solar installers, however, the bill is virtually unchanged.
Why it Matters:
Their draft, released June 16, still eliminates the residential solar credit six months after enactment and bars installers from claiming the commercial credit if customers use a leasing model.
Commercial solar projects lose their new-project incentives on an accelerated schedule:
Can claim the credits full value only if construction starts by the end of 2025
60% in 2026
20% in 2027
Gone after 2028
Hydropower, geothermal, batteries, and nuclear, meanwhile, keep 100% of the current credit until 2033 and step down gradually through 2036
This will put solar energy, the nation's cheapest and fastest-to-deploy power source, at a competitive disadvantage.
Utility-scale solar projects can still claim 100 % of the ITC or PTC if they meet two tests:
Begin physical work or incur the "5 % safe-harbor" costs any time up to December 31, 2025.
Enter their Commercial Operation Date (COD) on or before December 31, 2029.
That placed-in-service date is one year later than the House-passed version, which cut off full credits after 2028.
Projects that slip into 2030 under the Senate plan still qualify but at only 60% of the credit's value. If they reach COD in 2031, they receive 20%, and after that, the credit disappears altogether.
The manufacturing credit that has lured panel, inverter, and racking factories to red-state counties survives intact through 2029, but homeowner heat pump and efficiency incentives vanish.
The Solar Industry's Protest
Hours after the draft was released, SEIA's CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said the proposal "would pull the plug on homegrown solar energy and decimate the American manufacturing renaissance," warning of higher power bills and stalled AI-driven demand.
On June 18, hundreds of installers, factory workers, and suppliers poured onto Capitol Hill for a "Save Main Street Solar" rally, hoisting yellow signs and a banner that read the slogan in three-foot letters.
Speakers came from all over the country:
Dan Conant, CEO and founder of West Virginia-based Solar Holler, described his crews putting "Georgia-made panels on steel mills and schools" and warned that gutting tax credits would "kick out the knees" of a fast-growing industry.
Retired Navy commander Steve Rutherford, now owner of Tampa Bay Solar, said one stroke of the pen could sideline "thousands of veterans" employed in solar across Florida.
Enphase executive Marco Krapels, whose firm opened U.S. factories after the IRA passed, pleaded for "a glide path, not a cliff."
However, major changes at this point are unlikely.
There will not be a public markup on this bill; it's headed directly to the Senate floor. Any changes will come from the private negotiations between Senators this week and next.
What they decide will determine whether the country's fastest-growing energy industry continues to grow or hits a wall.
Pennsylvania House Passes Solar for All
The Pennsylvania House quietly moved the state closer to accepting $156 million in federal Solar for All funds this week, tucking language into Fiscal Code bill HB 1189, striking last year's budget clause requiring an extra vote before the state could accept the money.
The move (championed by Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler and Majority Leader Matt Bradford) came after advocates rallied against a previous amendment that would have tied the dollars to a rewrite of net-metering rules.
The measure grants the state's energy authority permission to spend the grant on rooftop and community solar projects in low-income and environmental justice communities. More than 14,000 households could benefit.
The bill now heads to the GOP-controlled Senate and then to Governor Josh Shapiro; supporters are pressing lawmakers to finalize it before the federal September 1 deadline so Pennsylvania doesn't have to send the money back to Washington.
We cannot emphasize enough that this is federal government money that is already earmarked for infrastructure improvement in Pennsylvania, and state legislators only need to accept it.
Sources:
https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2025/06/senate-budget-draft-makes-minor-improvements-but-keeps-major-cuts-to-solar-incentives/?spMailingID=159837&puid=3010351&E=3010351&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=159837
https://heatmap.news/politics/senate-finance-big-beautiful-bill-ira
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/us-senate-floats-full-phase-out-solar-wind-energy-tax-credits-by-2028-2025-06-16/
https://seia.org/news/icymi-hundreds-of-american-solar-workers-and-advocates-rally/
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