Engagement from U.S. senators with the executive branch over clean hydrogen rules is leading to a “loosening” in the Treasury’s approach to the production tax credits, Plug Power CEO Andy Marsh said today.
Marsh also said the Supreme Court’s Chevron decision was a key element working in favor of a relaxation of the three pillars guidelines under 45V.
Plug Power has worked to make sure its green hydrogen production plants would comply with the strict guidance, Marsh said, but added that “it’s really clear that the regulations on the three pillars are going to become much looser.”
Strict guidelines from the Treasury Department released in late December drove a wedge between industry participants, with opponents of the guidance saying it would stifle the still-nascent industry.
Marsh said he expects an announcement after the Democratic National Convention and a further announcement after the upcoming November presidential election.
After the convention, he said, “I think you’ll see relaxation associated with additionality. And I think that nuclear power, as well as hydropower, and maybe states with renewable energy programs, [receive] relaxation on additionality.”
He added that post-election, he believes regulations associated with time matching would start looking more like Europe, and that regionality guidelines will be “slightly less restrictive.”
Marsh specifically named Chevron, shorthand for the Supreme Court’s decision concerning the ability of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer.
“You see people who were strong supporters of the three pillars, like U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich in New Mexico, who’s backed off significantly,” Marsh said. “And there’s a lot of engagement between the Senate, who really wrote the bill, and the executive branch to make sure that congressional intention is met in the regulations, and certainly Chevron has helped in that evolution.”
In October, 2023, Heinrich joined U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in sending a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Treasury Climate Counselor Ethan Zindler urging strong standards in Treasury’s guidance on the 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit.
In 2021, Heinrich, an engineer by background, introduced the Clean Hydrogen Production Incentives Act, which was the basis of the language that became Section 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit in the Inflation Reduction Act.
