Policy Forum In-Depth: Implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law | Article

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (P.L.117-58), enacted into law last November, made historic investments in building out electric vehicle charging infrastructure, cleaning up legacy pollution, expanding broadband access, and much more. Implementation of the law was the focus of EESI’s annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy Forum on July 25, which featured panel discussions on energy modernization, buildings and workforce, transportation, and energy security. For this article, EESI sat down with clean energy leaders whose organizations participated in the Policy Forum to understand how they are mobilizing to ensure that IIJA funding is used to support decarbonization and what federal actions are needed next.

Check out the other articles in the series on supporting communities and local workforces in the transition to a decarbonized economy and key resources and reports helping advance renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Implementing the IIJA

The historic investments provided through the IIJA offer a unique opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Across the board, clean energy leaders expressed the transformative potential of these investments for their sectors. These organizations are now mobilizing to ensure these beneficial investments are optimized.

The Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), a trade association for electric drive technologies and infrastructure, “strongly supported passage of the IIJA because it will accelerate the transition to electric transportation with critical investments in EV infrastructure; consumer, commercial and transit vehicles; critical materials; a modernized grid; and advanced manufacturing. At the same time, the law will create jobs, reduce pollution, and build U.S. leadership in the global race for EV technologies,” according to the organization. EDTA is now working with the Biden-Harris Administration to ensure the law is effectively implemented, as well as helping their members find resources, information, and analysis on the IIJA.

Another way organizations are working to ensure that the IIJA investments support decarbonization is by working to inform key stakeholders about the law and its implementation. The American Public Power Association (APPA), a member organization for community-owned utilities, is providing educational resources like briefings, webinars, and a dedicated website to help members navigate funding opportunities in a variety of areas, including grid resiliency, transportation electrification, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and technology research and development.

Similarly, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE), a coalition of energy companies and trade associations, has asked for the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct workshops to facilitate successful implementation of the IIJA. According to BCSE, “the main objectives of the workshop(s) would be to cultivate partnerships among state policymakers, clean energy businesses, and Department of Energy leadership around the central goal of successful IIJA implementation.” To further improve implementation of IIJA, BCSE also recommends that the DOE simplify and clarify program processes, criteria, and reporting requirements and allow private investment to be leveraged.

Another crucial move in enhancing the potential of the IIJA is through the formation of partnerships between clean energy leaders and key federal agencies involved in implementation. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the U.S. trade association for the solar power sector, serves as an inaugural partner of DOE's Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X). The i2X is a program funded by the IIJA that serves to help strengthen U.S. distribution and transmission grids while improving the interconnection of solar energy, wind energy, and energy storage.

Clean energy leaders are also prioritizing the accessibility of IIJA funding. According to the National Hydropower Association (NHA), a nonprofit association working to advance hydropower and marine energy, the organization is now collaborating with the DOE to ensure that the $753 million in hydropower funding can be easily accessed by the broader industry. According to NHA, IIJA “funding will help protect our existing hydropower fleet by incentivizing upgrades and enhancements, and spur new growth by adding hydropower generation to existing non-powered dams. Above all, the IIJA sent a message that hydropower will play a major role in decarbonizing our electricity grid.”

Similarly, American Clean Power, a renewable energy trade association, is focusing on ensuring that the clean energy infrastructure funding flows to areas of greatest need, like new and upgraded high-capacity electric transmission lines, lowered cost of electrolyzers, and grid-scale storage to handle large amounts of clean energy.

The BlueGreen Alliance, a nonprofit focusing on the labor benefits of environmental solutions, is also working to ensure funding goes where it is most needed. According to BlueGreen Alliance, “As we work to implement the [IIJA] funding and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot aim at returning to the status quo. Several policy levers exist to help ensure that investments create good, union jobs, community benefits—particularly for targeted constituencies—and help reduce the income inequality that has harmed the American middle class and build a competitive, clean economy.”

Looking Ahead

To build upon the investments in the IIJA, clean energy leaders agree that additional federal actions are needed and are working hard to encourage these actions. Growth Energy, a biofuel trade organization, helped to shape the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent announcement of $100 million in grant funds for retail expansion of biofuel infrastructure. Looking forward, the organization noted that elected leaders need to change restrictions on higher biofuel blends and allow drivers year-round access to E15—a blend of 15 percent of the biofuel, ethanol, and 85 percent gasoline.

Another recommendation for further unleashing decarbonization is the creation of predictable, consistent policies. EDTA recommends focusing on a comprehensive, consistent electrification policy to reinforce efforts in the electric drive industry and reach the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate change and net-zero emissions goals.

This kind of predictability can be provided with tax credits for clean energy and energy efficiency. BCSE recommends that Congress authorize a clean energy and energy efficiency tax package that establishes and extends tax credits for measures like renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, hydrogen production, electric transmission, and carbon capture and storage. “Long-term and predictable credits will have the greatest impact and will provide the public policy certainty business urgently needs, leading to steady economic growth and new job creation,” according to BCSE.

APPA also sees clean energy and energy efficiency tax credits as invaluable. APPA supports Congress enacting refundable direct pay tax credits that would be made available to tax-exempt utilities like rural electric cooperatives and public power utilities. “Doing so will ensure the value of tax credits, used to encourage investments in renewable energy by reducing the financial cost of such investment, is available to customers of all utilities——including public power and rural electric cooperatives which collectively serve nearly 30 percent of the nation’s retail electric customers,” according to APPA.

Other organizations such as SEIA and BlueGreen Alliance are also looking forward to future Congressional actions that can continue to build momentum for clean energy and energy efficiency. According to SEIA, the organization is “focused on pushing a clean energy-focused budget reconciliation bill across the finish line.” Specifically, the organization noted that clean energy tax provisions and investments in domestic manufacturing would benefit the solar industry. Additionally, according to the BlueGreen Alliance, “The [IIJA] includes some codified policy tools explicitly in the legislation and we are working to reach further by advocating for a budget reconciliation package that uses those tools to seize this moment and create a more just, equitable society that works for all.”

Author: Molly Brind’Amour