President Biden proposal includes $100 billion for power infrastructure

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 6, 2021

The Biden Administration on March 31 outlined infrastructure legislation that includes $100 billion for power infrastructure.

According to a summary of the plan released by the White House, the president is proposing a “targeted investment tax credit that incentivizes the buildout of at least 20 gigawatts of high-voltage capacity power lines.”

In addition, President Biden plans to establish a new Grid Deployment Authority at the Department of Energy that “allows for better leverage of existing rights-of-way – along roads and railways – and supports creative financing tools to spur additional high priority, high-voltage transmission lines.”

He also proposed 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. These credits will be paired with strong labor standards.

It is unclear whether these direct-payment credits would be available to state and local entities, in part because the summary goes on to explain that the President’s plan will “support state, local, and tribal governments choosing to accelerate this modernization through complementary policies – like clean energy block grants that can be used to support clean energy, worker empowerment, and environmental justice.”

To accelerate responsible carbon capture deployment and ensure permanent storage, President Biden’s plan reforms and expands the Tax Code’s Section 45Q tax credit, making it direct pay and easier to use for hard-to-decarbonize industrial applications, direct air capture, and retrofits of existing power plants.

President Biden is also proposing to spend $174 billion on the electric vehicle market. The plan would 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. It will give consumers point-of-sale rebates and tax incentives to buy American-made EVs.

It will also establish grant and incentive programs for state and local governments and the private sector to build a national network of 500,000 EV chargers by 2030, while promoting strong labor, training, and installation standards.

President Biden is also proposing electrify the entire federal fleet, including the United States Postal Service.

Other proposals include requiring federal buildings to be powered “24/7” with clean power, establishing an Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard 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.