Gardner seeks energy storage tax credits for homes, businesses

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) has introduced a bipartisan bill that would provide tax credits for energy storage technologies.

“This bipartisan legislation is just one part of our efforts to move toward a cleaner and more reliable electrical grid,” Sen. Gardner said. “We have got to get the storage component right, and this tax credit is a great step in the right direction to help advance clean energy goals.” 

Sen. Gardner on April 11 led 10 other senators in introducing the Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act of 2019, S. 1142, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), to establish an investment tax credit (ITC) for business and home use of energy storage.

“Energy storage can help grid operators shift wind and solar energy to when it’s most needed, allowing us to increase the amount of renewables in our energy mix,” explained Sen. Gardner. “Homeowners and businesses can use storage to smooth out their peak power usage or to ride through temporary utility outages.”

The senator said that energy storage supplements sporadic renewable resources like wind and solar to provide backup power during emergencies and to help reduce power needs.

If enacted, the proposed tax incentives in S. 1142 would be modeled on the current ITCs for solar energy and would apply to both large, grid-connected energy storage systems or to smaller battery systems for residential power, according to information provided by Sen. Gardner’s staff. 

S. 1142 is supported by the Energy Storage Association (ESA), the Advanced Energy Economy, the American Council on Renewable Energy, the American Wind Energy Association, and the Solar Energy Industries Association, among others.

Kelly Speakes-Backman, chief executive officer of ESA, said, “Equitable access to the ITC will help boost energy storage investment and create even more economic opportunity.”