May 15, 2025
Mayors from OHIO are urging solar projects in their cities to continue to use the Direct Pay determination of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which has supported countless solar projects in the state. They confirm that without the tax credit, many of these projects would not have been possible.
Direct Loon is a provision in the IRA that local governments and other tax-free organizations, including churches, hospitals and schools to claim tax credits for investing in renewable energy projects for the first time, in addition to the private sector.
The Congression House Ways and Means Committee on 12 May threatened this provision and released a draft tax proposal, including important recovery of the tax credits that are available for local governments via Direct Loon. The proposal was included in the Ways and Means Committee Markup for her fiscal year 2025 Reconciliation Act, that President Donald Trump has dubbed one big, great account ‘.
To prevent the cuts within the bill of the committee, three national mayors of Ohio on 13 May gave a press application to testify about the value of the IRA Direct Pay provision. These mayors of Ohio were Edward Kraus van Solon, Steve Patterson from Athens and Sharetta Smith van Lima.
“All three mayors on the call represent cities with populations lower than 35,000 and have stimulated their economies with clean energy projects, which shows that direct wage and villages of all stripes have benefited,” said Georgia Panitz, an employee for energy and sustainability at FGS Global, who facilitated the press of the press.
Worth mentioning: Ohio has also seen corruption of energy policy at state level with the House Bill 6 Scandal. The Passage of HB 6 is said to have had around $ 60 million in bribes connected to utilities used to protect more than $ 1.5 billion in interestpayer subsidies for aging coal and nuclear power stations. Two former FIRSTEOLE -managers were sued by a federal large jury In January, accused of one count of participation in a racketeering (Rico) conspiracy.
Mayors explain direct wage benefits
Athens is a city in Ohio that has benefited from the direct wage provisions, said Mayor Patterson during the call of 13 May.
“Our solar project of the city of Athens East Side was a 2.1 MW Solar Array project, which used the Community Center Campus, where we used Zonne -Energy on the roof of our community center, a canopy for our seasonal swimming pool, and then also a significant ground -water -substitution array. “About 90% of the energy for our seasonal swimming pool comes directly from the sun. With the PPA agreement we have a buy-out of six years [from Kokosing Solar] At the end because of the inflation reduction Act Credits. ”
Lima, Ohio, has also been given savings through a direct wageoplo project:
‘The city of Lima has placed floating solar panels On two of our reservoirs. It will enable us to save on our electricity of water treatment plants, [which produces a] Bill of about $ 1 million a year, “said Mayor Smith.” Projections through our partner D3Energy, we will save rate payers $ 200,000 in the first year and $ 10 million during the life of the project. ”
In Solon, Ohio is a group of solar projects in early development.
“We now have a program for renewable energy, in which we explore many different options for solar energy,” said Mayor Kraus. “We look at both solar energy and solar energy on the floor; we try to aggregate.”
Direct Pay Tracker
Another participant in the call of 13 May was Kate Wright, executive director of Climate cintersA dual network of nearly 350 mayors in 46 states, who jointly represent 60 million people. Climate mayors and other launched partners The local government Direct Pay Tracker“A first-of-ITS species that shows where federal tax credits help support clean energy projects in American cities throughout the country.”
The local government Direct Pay Tracker is currently good for more than 100 clean energy projects in 29 states and 59 areas of law, including Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, New Mexico, Florida and Indiana, according to the website of the organization.
“The projects reflected in the tracker demonstrate how clean energy tax credits, which the private sector has benefited from for decades, are now helping local governments and nonprofits unlock innovative clean energy projects, from installing solar energy and creating more energy independence, to purchasing electric vehicles and reducing Toxic Pollution.
De Tracker has been developed in collaboration with C40 Cities, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), the Sustainable Cities Fund (SCF) and Atlas Public Policy, and in collaboration alongside Lawyers for Goodnment (L4GG) and World Resource Institute (WRI), States.
Upcoming Ohio Solar Projects
Prior to the call, a two -part coalition of 30 mayors of Ohio and local officials sent a letter to the Ohio Congressional Delegation on 24 April, who wanted to protect the direct wage provision. The letter was organized by Power A Clean Future Ohio (PCFO). “There are 13 tax credits available for local governments, including the qualified Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit for solar, wind and geothermal projects (48th), tax credit for commercial clean vehicles (45 W) and the alternative tank competitions credit (30c),” PCFO said in the letter.
PCFO quotes a large number of OHIO projects among the projects for solar energy and other clean energy projects that are supported by the direct wage determination:
- Cuyahoga County is planning to use subsidy funds for the reduction of climate pollution to develop multiple sun sources and landfills in Cuyahoga County and the city of Painesville that will produce 63 MW of renewable energy, making it one path to reach the goals of 2030 and 2050. This program will create 136 building tasks, maintain 17 jobs and again trained from coal-fired power plant to solar and battery storage facility, 100 pre-aquentency positions and 6 in total staff hired for new positions in Cuyahoga County and the cities of Cleveland and Painesville. The project will use around $ 60 million in federal tax credits via Direct Loon.
- The city of Lima is building a floating photovoltaic (FPV) facility on the surface of the Twin Lakes reservoir, located next to the water treatment plant of the city. The 2 MW current generated by this FPV system will feed the water treatment plant of the city directly. $ 890,000 in Direct Loon will support this project after completion in 2026.
- The city of Cincinnati is planning to request $ 405,000 from direct payment tax credits for five solar projects on recreational centers and municipal buildings in the city. The city has also purchased nine electric vehicles that they intend to submit.
- Three solar projects on the roof are planned to be installed on senior residential facilities in the cities of Reynoldsburg, Macedonia and Sylvania, all dependent on direct payment tax loans to make them financially viable. These projects are almost 300 kW of solar energy and will result in considerable energy saving for seniors in Ohio.
- The city of Columbus accelerated a 6 MW Bio -Energy project in the Southerly Water Reclamation Facility to secure $ 120 million in savings from the IRA Direct Pay provisions. Moreover, Columbus is ready to develop a 5 MW Sunna -Array for its municipal power customers and to expand its residential solar program by $ 15 million in solar energy for all subsidy and direct payment tax credits.
Tags: municipal
