Boo hoo you bastard.
Nevertheless, the law of markets has not been revoked. Renewables remain King when it comes to price.
I’ve spoken to project managers for several proposed clean energy projects in recent weeks, and none of them was wringing their hands about the tax bill.
Outgoing administration adviser Elon Musk is criticizing Republicans’ signature policy bill to advance President Trump’s agenda as the he walks out the door, saying it moves too quickly to phase out Biden-era low-carbon energy tax credits.
Musk, in a post on the social platform X, reposted his company Tesla Energy’s post that warns against “abruptly ending the energy tax credits.”
The post states: “We urge the senate to enact legislation with a sensible wind down” of credits for low-carbon electricity companies and homeowners who want to install residential green energy such as rooftop solar.
In a separate post, Musk wrote “there is no change to tax incentives for oil & gas, just EV/solar” in the House-passed GOP bill, which faces calls from changes from multiple Republicans in the Senate.
The posts highlight fissures within the Republican Party on how to deal with the energy tax credits passed by Democrats in 2022.
A number of Republicans have called for a more deliberate phaseout that does not strand energy projects already in progress, but what ultimately passed the House was a significant chop to the credits that many in the industry describe as unworkable.
In particular, the final version states that projects can only get the credit if they begin construction within 60 days of the bill’s passage and begin producing electricity by 2028.
Trump has called for Republicans to unite behind the bill, but Musk has also criticized it previously, in an interview with CBS News, for not codifying the broad government funding cuts enacted by his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
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Meanwhile, markets doing what markets do, underlining the continued competitiveness of renewable energy.
Private infrastructure investors are snatching up green bargains in what’s emerged as a buyer’s market for wind, solar and battery projects.
The moves follow a a slump in clean-energy stocks, as US President Donald Trump’s call for more fossil-fuel power generation has sent a chill through the sector and boosted Big Oil’s plans to pivot back to core business.
“We think the fundamentals of renewable power are as strong as they’ve ever been,” said Ignacio Paz-Ares, managing partner and deputy chief investment officer in the renewable power and transition group at Brookfield Asset Management. “Whenever we see a dislocation between what the market noise is and the fundamentals, that creates a very good opportunity for us to make acquisitions at very attractive entry prices.”
Brookfield is among the asset managers betting that rising energy consumption and competitive economics of renewables will continue to drive demand for the sector.
In recent months Brookfield has done a series of big green deals, including a $1.7 billion transaction to buy an onshore renewables business from National Grid Plc, a £1.75 billion ($2.3 billion) stake purchase in UK offshore wind farms from Orsted A/S and a €6.1 billion ($6.6 billion) takeover of French developer Neoen SA, which owns solar, wind and energy storage assets. Paz-Ares said the firm is looking to buy more as it continues to raise money for its second energy transition fund.
The acquisition of Neoen was particularly good timing for Brookfield. The alternative asset manager and co-investors first bought a controlling stake in December for €39.85 a share, a third lower than Neoen’s peak in early 2021.
With all of these deals, Brookfield took assets from the public market into the private one. They highlight an opportune moment for investors with money to spend on the sector. A stock market bubble for all things green peaked in early 2021 and has now left valuations of publicly-traded clean energy companies around the lowest level in about five years.
“Stock prices haven’t done well over last few years, but in the real economy clean is booming,” said Aniket Shah, head of sustainability and transition strategy at Jefferies. “When sentiment around something is low, it’s a good time to be a buyer.”
The joke here, as I understand it, Tesla was making more money on green washing schemes than it was on manufacturing EVs and batteries