Big Federal $s: How the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act can help spur clean energy investments in Texas
In the past few years, the US Congress passed and the President signed two significant pieces of legislation which represent multi-year investments in infrastructure and projects. The first, the IIJA or Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, also sometimes called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, created in 2021, is providing billions of dollars of federal funds for a variety of programs, including water and wastewater infrastructure, broadband, roads and bridges, but also infrastructure related to energy, including investments in transmission, energy efficiency, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and energy research. In all, Texas is expected to receive about $33 billion in additional funds, the majority of it for roads, bridges and public transportation, but also for electric grid improvements and efforts to weatherize homes and apartments.
More recently, in 2022, the Congress passed and the President signed the ambitious Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which includes a dizzying number of programs and tax incentives. Again, while it will take several years for all the programs to be developed and implemented, billions in tax incentives and tax breaks, along with specific programs focused on clean energy development, energy efficiency, onsite solar and transmission upgrades means that Texas could help lower costs and transform our electric grid. All told, the IRA will invest approximately $300 billion in Deficit Reduction and $369 billion in Energy Security and Climate Change programs over the next eight to ten years.
State agencies like the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, State Energy Conservation Office and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality could apply and receive hundreds of millions of dollars, some of which could directly help Texas residents invest in clean energy. A fact sheet from the White House outlines some of these programs and benefits for Texas.
