U.S. and European companies are making a $7.5 billion bet that small, community-led energy projects can survive the looming phase-out of federal tax credits.
French energy tech giant Schneider Electric, along with Microsoft and nearly 20 other companies, are banding together to help communities scope, finance and install clean energy projects before the U.S. tax credits expire during the next two years.
The group, which also includes the global insurer Zurich and the Baltimore-based commercial solar energy firm Sunrock Distributed, says it can tap $7.5 billion in capital and is targeting smaller operations. Rather than utility-scale solar farms, the Accelerating Resilient Infrastructure Initiative instead works on projects like a microgrid to support electric buses in Maryland or a solar project at a Texas school district.
Jana Gerber, Schneider’s North American president of microgrids, said in an interview with POLITICO’s E&E News that there’s urgency to getting those types of projects done now while federal assistance can make them more cost-effective.
