The city of Rochester is halting solar energy projects it had sought to pursue this year amid federal changes to renewable energy tax credits.
The city issued a request for proposals for rooftop solar panel systems at three sites: Blue Cross Arena, Riverside Convention Center and the Public Safety Building.
But a city official said that initiative is no longer moving forward, in large part due to the congressional decision to repeal renewable energy tax credits in the reconciliation bill that passed in July.
“The investment tax credit for solar power generation, which is a big piece of the financing for large solar projects, that is no longer on the table,” said Anne Spaulding, manager of environmental quality at the city of Rochester. “It's put the whole solar industry in jeopardy, I think. So, there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of difficulty having projects move forward.”
In a July 7 White House memo, President Trump said renewable energy subsidies “threaten national security” by making the U.S. dependent on supply chains controlled by “foreign adversaries.” The memo did not elaborate further.
The U.S. Department of Energy later released a 150-page report on the impact of greenhouse emissions on U.S. climate, stating that "carbon dioxide (CO2) -induced warming appears to be less damaging economically than commonly believed, and that aggressive mitigation strategies could be more harmful than beneficial.”
The report was developed by a committee of climate change skeptics including John Christy and Roy Spencer.
The Environmental Defense Fund and the Union of Concerned Scientists are suing the federal government over the report. They allege that the Department of Energy violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 when hand-selecting the committee to write the report, which was cited by the Environmental Protection Agency as justification for repealing pollution regulations.
Spaulding said the city intends to have plans ready in case the state makes funding available to support projects that reduce greenhouse emissions — like rooftop solar energy systems and geothermal energy networks.
“With the tax credits going away, it really makes it difficult for some of these projects to move forward, but that doesn't mean we're not going to keep looking for ways to make them happen.” she said. “This won't be forever, so things hopefully will change, and there'll be opportunities moving forward, so we want to make sure that we're well positioned.”
Meanwhile, the city has an open request for proposals to update its Municipal and Communitywide Climate Action Plan, something Spaulding said was already scheduled to be revamped this year regardless of any federal funding cuts.
