Congressman David Schweikert (AZ-06), a Fountain Hills resident, joined House Ways and Means colleagues Rep. Tom Reed (NY-23) and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) in introducing the Energy Sector Innovation Credit (ESIC) Act, a bipartisan energy tax proposal to encourage innovation in the clean energy sector to help rapidly scale-up and diversify new technologies.

Original co-sponsors of the House legislation include Rep. Tom Reed (NY-23), Rep. Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL-18), Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY-03), and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05).

“I am proud to join this bipartisan effort with my colleagues to promote clean energy technology in the United States,” said Congressman Schweikert. “The Energy Sector Innovation Credit is a pro-growth, economically responsible tax credit that will provide a critical opportunity for investment in emerging clean energy technologies and take us one step forward in achieving energy independence.”

Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and U.S. Senate Finance Committee member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) have introduced identical legislation in the U.S. Senate. Original co-sponsors of the Senate legislation include Senate Finance Committee members John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) and Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee members Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado).

The Energy Sector Innovation Credit is a technology-inclusive, flexible investment tax credit (ITC) or production tax credit (PTC) designed to promote innovation across a range of clean energy technologies, including generation, storage, carbon capture and hydrogen production. ESIC:

*Promotes clean energy innovation by allowing up to a 40 percent ITC or 60 percent PTC for low market penetration technologies across a range of energy sources, including renewables, fossil fuels, and nuclear.

*Phases out credits as technologies mature, which provides an on-ramp for the most innovative technologies to get to market and then compete on their own, rather than allowing Congress to pick winners and losers when temporary credits expire.

*Groups technologies substantively different from one another as determined by experts at the Department of Energy (DOE), national labs and other stakeholders.

*Provides flexibility for unforeseen clean energy technologies to be eligible for ESIC by including an expedited-consideration provision for Congress to take up new technology recommendations from DOE.

ESIC is supported by a number of industry groups, including ClearPath Action, Idaho Falls Power, the Evangelical Environmental Network, the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, the Nuclear Energy Institute, Carbon180, Bipartisan Policy Center Action, The Nature Conservancy, American Conservation Coalition, ThirdWay, Nuclear Innovation Alliance, Arnold Ventures, Clean Air Task Force, Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions, Xcel Energy, American Public Power Association, Oklo, NuScale, Geothermal Rising, Fervo Energy, Ormat, Geothermal Resource Group, GeothermEx, Long Duration Energy Storage of California, Environmental Defense Fund and National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association.