GHG Emissions, Sourcing Renewables  -  April 2, 2021

24/7 Clean Power for Federal Buildings, EV Investment Included in American Jobs Plan

The American Jobs Plan released by the Biden Administration on March 31 proposed using the federal government’s purchasing power to drive clean energy deployment across the market by purchasing 24/7 clean power for federal buildings.

“To ensure that we fully take advantage of the opportunity that modernizing our power sector presents, President Biden will establish an Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard (EECES) aimed at cutting electricity bills and electricity pollution, increasing competition in the market, incentivizing more efficient use of existing infrastructure, and continuing to leverage the carbon pollution-free energy provided by existing sources like nuclear and hydropower, “ according to a Fact Sheet from The White House. All of this will be done while ensuring those facilities meet robust and rigorous standards for worker, public, and environmental safety as well as environmental justice – and all while moving toward 100 percent carbon-pollution free power by 2035.”

President Biden is proposing a ten-year extension and phase-down of an expanded direct-pay investment tax credit and production tax credit for clean energy generation and storage. The plan calls for the mobilization of private investment to modernize the power sector. It also will support state, local, and tribal governments choosing to accelerate this modernization through complementary policies including clean energy block grants that can be used to support clean energy, worker empowerment, and environmental justice.

The plan also proposes a $174 billion investment “to win the EV market,” noting that the U.S. market share of plug-in EV sales is only one-third the size of the Chinese EV market. The plan will “enable automakers to spur domestic supply chains from raw materials to parts, retool factories to compete globally, and support American workers to make batteries and EVs.” Grant and incentive programs for state and local governments, as well as the private sector, will be established to build a national network of half a million EV chargers by 2030. Additionally, 50,000 diesel transit vehicles will be replaced and at least 20% of the yellow school bus fleet through a new Clean Buses for Kids Program at the Environmental Protection Agency, with support from the Department of Energy.