Senate Republicans stunned the power industry over the weekend with a proposed new tax on wind and solar projects, part of a broader push to unravel incentives for renewable energy. Energy tax credits that were expanded during the Biden administration are wrapped up in a fierce congressional fight over President Trump’s signature tax and spending bill.

With the Senate embroiled in debating the details of the reconciliation bill (H.R. 1), Senator Jodi Ernst (Iowa) proposed an amendment, cosponsored by Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), that changes language of tax credit phase out to “begins construction” instead of when production begins.

Tucked inside Republicans' massive domestic policy bill is an excise tax for wind and solar projects, a provision that came as a surprise not just to the renewable energy industry, but to numerous senators who are crafting the legislation.