‘Energy challenge.’ Georgia bills would give tax credits for more clean energy
Twin bills currently going through Georgia’s legislature would, if passed, create tax credits to make and invest in clean energy in Georgia.
House bills 212 and 213 are modeled after parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, according to House Whip Sam Park (D-107), a primary sponsor of both bills.
“I think both pieces of legislation are important for a variety of reasons,” Park said. “Certainly one is lowering energy costs for all Georgia consumers, (as well as) expanding our energy capacity as a state and accelerating the transition toward renewable and sustainable energy sources, which will help us move faster toward energy independence from a security perspective.”
Another motivator for the bills comes from the increasing number of data centers in the state that require an immense amount of energy to power, according to Rep. Tangie Herring (D-145), who’s another sponsor of the bills.
“Georgia is facing a mounting concern with Georgia Power’s ability to provide affordable and diverse sources of energy to meet the demands of our state,” Herring said. ”Georgia Power has said more than 80% of the electricity demand growth the utility expects is in data centers ... and so in order to combat this (demand) crisis, we must attract more clean energy producers.”
In addition to addressing this “energy challenge,” both of these bills hope to create well paying jobs, lower costs for customers and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, Herring said.
The intention for both bills is to be applicable to people and businesses, according to Park. Ideal outcomes, for example, would be more individual solar panels on homes and more investments from businesses focusing on more innovation in clean energy production, Park said.
Clean energy is defined as carbon-free or emissions-free energy sources, Park said.
These bills would allow the tax credits to be transferred and requires the Georgia Environmental Protection Division to publish annual greenhouse gas emission rates as a critical part of calculating the tax credit.
“If you exceed your tax liability, you would still be able to utilize the tax credit and sell it,” Park said. “On the open market, we saw the transferability of tax credits, for example, in the film and TV industry, which has allowed Georgia to become one of the top three states in the country for that industry... and so I’ve wanted to follow a similar approach with that.”
The Department of Revenue would responsible for implementing and allotting the tax credit, meaning if the bills became law, the department would create specific rules, regulations and procedures to apply for and receive the credit.
As far as the outlook on the passage of these pieces of legislation, Park seemed to think they’re playing the long game.
“I think for me, it’s more of a long term endeavor to try and bring a new idea into the state of Georgia regarding clean energy,” Park said. “This is kind of an early state based tax incentive.”
However, Park said he’s talked with those on both sides of the aisle and thinks they’re “very much interested.”
“The world is moving in a direction in which we’re trying to find additional clean energy sources, because we certainly don’t want to see (storms like) hurricane Helene become the norm.” Park said. “I want to see the state of Georgia continue to grow, but I also want to see it to grow in a sustainable manner, in which I think clean energy will be a key component of us improving the quality of life for everybody, but also being good stewards of our natural resources.”
This story was originally published February 19, 2025 at 9:51 AM.
