N.C. State GOP budget compromise drops state's renewable energy tax credit
By John Downey, Charlotte Business Journal.
North Carolina’s 35% tax credit for solar and other renewable energy projects apparently will die Dec. 31.
A compromise budget reached by Republicans in the state House and Senate, set to be announced Monday afternoon, will not include any provision to extend the credit or allow it to be reduced in steps over the next two years, sources say.
The credit, along with state requirements that utilities increase the amount of energy from renewable sources they sell in the state, has been an important incentive in a solar boom in North Carolina in the last four years. In that time, the state has gone from no significant amount of solar power produced to ranking fourth in the nation, with just under 1,100 megawatts of capacity. This year, with the tax credit still in place, the state is on track for almost 800 megawatts of new capacity to be built by the end of the year.