by Rachel McDevitt | 90.5 WESA
The federal spending plan before the United States Senate could devastate the clean energy industry in Pennsylvania, while making energy more expensive, according to clean energy business owners and advocates in Pennsylvania.
Several leaders in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries gathered at the Pittsburgh City-County Building Wednesday to stress the importance of federal incentives to their businesses. The group then delivered a letter signed by more than 130 businesses to the nearby offices of Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.).
The letter said credits for clean electricity, efficient homes, and electric vehicles “have helped businesses stay competitive in a rapidly evolving national and global market, where states and countries are making major investments to support advanced energy, energy efficiency, critical grid services, and automotive manufacturing.”
“This bill is bad for business,” said Jeaneen Zappa, executive director of the Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance. “We need stability in government policy and durability of that policy.”
Joe Morinville, founder of Pittsburgh-based EIS Solar, said he will be forced to downsize if the Senate passes the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” as written. The bill eliminates tax credits for homeowners and solar leasing companies that have helped grow the rooftop solar industry.
“How can a business operate in America under these conditions?” Morinville said.
Solar companies elsewhere are already folding under the pressure of policy uncertainty, tariffs and rising interest rates. The solar financing company Solar Mosaic and rooftop solar installer Sunnova both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy within the last week.
Zappa said the climate spending plan passed under the Biden Administration in 2022 has spurred more than 100 clean energy projects in Pennsylvania worth $4.5 billion of private investment.
But now she’s seeing some projects put on hold.
“There’s a great deal of uncertainty and fear, and I am sure that that is the intention — to sow fear, uncertainty, and doubt,” Zappa said.
Shane Bulick, director of programs with Earth Forward Group, said the end of incentives to weatherize homes, making them more efficient, will hurt lower-income people as energy bills rise due to increasing demand.
“We need the people to get this funding so that they can get control of their energy burdens in their home as the costs go up,” Bulick said.
Bulick previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He said the weatherization work he did in people’s homes when he left the military gave him a similar sense of service and fulfillment.
“I was able to make a real measurable difference in their lives that empowered them,” Bulick said.
