As the House and Senate passed their respective versions of tax legislation, renewables advocates and tax experts sounded the alarm: The original versions could cripple the wind and solar industries. The major trade groups, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), jointly wrote that the original legislation would lead to a “devastating reduction in wind and solar energy investment and development.”
But the final product as signed this week avoided any major blows. According to the many tax policy and industry experts we read or talked to, the tax bill might be even a net positive for the two industries.