| By Josh Saul and Jennifer A Dlouhy The Senate version of President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending bill would soften the blow for wind and solar developers, which had feared a sharp reduction in subsidies that helped spur a renewable power boom in the past few years. But the bill now faces conservatives in the House of Representatives eager to kill those credits. The measure that passed the Senate Tuesday removes a proposed tax on some projects and would allow renewable developers potentially five more years to qualify for federal incentives created under former President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law. But the bill would still hobble US clean energy development at a time when the demand for electricity is booming. And the House could still tighten restrictions on power developers. When that chamber passed its version of the bill in May, it included an aggressive phase-out of key wind and solar tax incentives. A key House Republican, Chip Roy of Texas, on Tuesday blasted the eased energy tax credit provisions as “a deal killer.”  Representative Chip Roy Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg While the provisions in the Senate bill avoided a worst-case scenario, opponents also say the measures will lead to higher energy prices and a weaker economy. “It went from terrible to bad,” Jason Grumet, head of trade group American Clean Power, said of the Senate-passed legislation. “It’s hard to say I’m psyched about a bill that’s a step back on energy policy, but it’s considerably improved.” Under the Senate bill, solar developers could start construction through mid-2026 and have five years to build and receive the full production tax credits, according to a note from analysts at Roth Capital Partners. “This would be a big win as volumes likely would not drop off a cliff in 2028, as the prior Senate version draft proposed,” the note stated. Read more: Senate Republicans Seek to Ease Solar and Wind Tax Credit Cutoff The Senate-passed measure spiked a previously proposed excise tax on wind and solar projects that use a certain threshold of components made in China. That represents a win for renewable power developers who’d warned the higher cost could prevent some projects from ever getting built. But the proposed excise tax targeting projects with Chinese-made equipment had support among solar manufacturers, including companies that have built new factories in the US on the promise of domestic-content purchase incentives embedded in the IRA. “It’s a stab in the back to the workers and companies that are building out the factories,” Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition, said in an interview. Without the excise tax there’s no incentive for domestically made equipment, he said. Read more: What’s at Stake If the US-China Trade War Drags On: QuickTake The Senate-passed bill would “harm US manufacturers and invite China to flood our market again with dumped solar panels,” said Danny O’Brien, president of corporate affairs at manufacturer solar company Qcells. “Industry and government have spent more than a decade reshoring the solar manufacturing industry from China to the US.” The various iterations of Trump’s tax and spending package have whipsawed much of the renewable energy industry — and, with it, shares of developers, installers and manufacturers. The addition over the weekend of the proposed tax on some wind and solar projects stunned the industry, prompting shares to slide Monday. Clean energy trade groups had warned that without changes, Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” would have threatened some wind farms and solar arrays already under construction.
— With assistance from Erik Wasson and Janet Freund | 
