*

Trump's bill proposes ending wind and solar incentives by

2028

*

Renewable projects like solar, wind, and batteries face

shutdown

risk

*

Republican lawmakers from Utah, Alaska, N. Carolina,

Kansas at

odds over the rollbacks

*

Red states capture 75% of IRA clean energy investments

*

Utah clean energy investments total $3 bln, with $10 bln

in

announced projects

By Nichola Groom

June 18 (Reuters) -

In an industrial building in the Salt Lake City suburb of

Clearfield, Utah, long strips of U.S.-made steel were fed

through machines that punctured, bent and cut them into rods

that will soon hold solar panels on rooftops.

Next door, workers with rivet tools assembled the pieces

into finished products, bundled them into packages with "Made in

the USA" stickers and wheeled them onto trucks to be delivered

to a customer 800 miles (1,300 km) away in San Diego.

The adjacent factories, run by solar racking company

PanelClaw, are among the dozens that have popped up since 2022

to meet soaring demand for American-made clean energy equipment

incentivized by tax credits in former President Joe Biden's

climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Republican-led states like Utah have captured 75% of

manufacturing investments supported by the law, even though no

member of the party voted for it, according to think tank Energy

Innovation.

Just two years into its Utah expansion, however, PanelClaw's

factories, along with countless other clean energy projects

across the country, are in jeopardy as U.S. lawmakers consider

rolling back those credits in President Donald Trump's "One Big

Beautiful Bill" now in front of the Senate.

Earlier this week, a Senate panel published a version of the

bill that would end the incentives for wind and solar power by

2028, several years ahead of schedule.

Republican Trump had campaigned on a promise to repeal the

clean energy tax credits in the IRA, arguing they are expensive,

unnecessary and harmful to business.

However, the potential loss in jobs and investment that

ending those incentives could cause has some Republican

lawmakers from red states Utah, Alaska, North Carolina and

Kansas at odds over the rollbacks, a dynamic that is

complicating final negotiations over the bill.

There are 53 Republicans in the Senate, and 51 votes are

needed to pass the budget reconciliation bill.

"They would be in significant trouble," PanelClaw CEO Costa

Nicolaou said of his company's Utah facilities, which are on

track to pump out 15 million parts this year.

"I mean, we could essentially shut them down if the market

goes away, which is what (removing) these credits will do."

THE UTAH RIFT

Utah's Republican senators, Mike Lee and John Curtis,

disagree over the subsidies supporting clean energy businesses.

Lee likes the proposed cuts to government support for

renewable energy technologies and predicts the move could save

U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion over the next decade.

Curtis, on the other hand, is among four Republican senators

who penned a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune in

April saying that repealing the tax credits would disrupt

investment. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North

Carolina and Jerry Moran of Kansas also signed the letter.

Neither Lee's nor Thune's office, nor the White House

responded to requests for comment.

Curtis visited PanelClaw's facility last year, praising

it for creating jobs in his state. And more recently, he

highlighted the benefits of the IRA subsidies at a Tooele County

factory that makes batteries to store power on the grid.

The company behind the factory, Fluence Energy ( FLNC ), an

energy storage company backed by industry giants Siemens

and AES ( AES ), invested $700 million in

manufacturing facilities in Utah and other red states, including

Texas and Tennessee.

"We can't cut the legs off of these enterprises," Curtis

said in a statement. "Doing so would damage Utah's economy, put

America's energy future in jeopardy, and weaken our national

security. We must take a reasonable, responsible approach to

energy tax credits."

rPlus Energies, which is building the $1.1 billion Green

River Energy Center solar and battery project in Emery County,

said changes to the credits would threaten its 15-gigawatt

pipeline.

Green River will add $55 million over 20 years to the tax

base for a county historically reliant on coal, and the credits

will keep the price of power low, according to rPlus CEO Luigi

Resta.

"This is a great project," Resta said. "It's a poster child

for the benefits of the IRA in Republican states."

CROSSING PARTY LINES

Clean energy is nothing new in Utah. Nearly a fifth of the

electricity comes from renewable sources, primarily solar, and

about 9% of homes are powered by solar panels.

Tom Mills, who has sold residential solar in the state since

2014, said some homeowners are seeking environmental benefits

while others just want to be self-reliant.

"This topic crosses party lines," he said.

Park City-based Alpenglow Solar, where Mills serves as

technical sales director, would have to downsize its 18

employees if incentives for residential solar are eliminated, he

said.

Utah was the fourth fastest-growing state in 2024, according

to the U.S. Census Bureau. Utah County, just south of Salt Lake

City, accounted for more than a third of that growth and needs

revenue to fund new schools.

Amelia Powers Gardner, one of the county's three

commissioners, said she backs solar power because it can be

built quickly - in half the time needed for natural gas plants -

and attract revenue-paying data center owners like Google

that want clean power.

"I am a Republican," Gardner said. "I would be fine building

a gas-fired power plant. But in this case, modular nuclear or

solar power - those things can help solve our problems."

In Utah, the IRA credits have generated $3 billion in

investment, with an additional $10 billion in announced

projects, according to Energy Innovation.

Nationwide, the IRA has generated $132 billion in announced

investments in major energy projects, according to clean energy

business group E2.

Nearly two-thirds of those investments are in Republican

Congressional districts, and the largest beneficiaries include

North and South Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, and Texas.

"I don't think people necessarily went out of their way to

think, 'Oh, I'm going to build these things in red states,'"

said Fluence's Americas President John Zahurancik. "That's just

where the demand is."

GEOTHERMAL RELIEF

U.S. solar stocks have slumped on the proposed credit

phase-out although some analysts remain skeptical of whether

Congress will pass the bill in its current form before Trump's

self-imposed July 4 deadline, which could open a window for

solar and wind industry lobbyists.

The Senate Finance Committee preserved tax credits for

hydro, nuclear, and geothermal energy through 2036 after

companies urged it to save them.

One of the companies, Fervo, backed by Bill Gates'

Breakthrough Energy, is constructing an advanced geothermal

energy plant in tiny Milford, Utah, that will start supplying

customers, including Southern California Edison and

Shell Energy, with power next year.

"The Senate Finance Committee's markup of the OBBB (One Big

Beautiful Bill) appropriately recognizes the valuable role

burgeoning firm, clean energy resources like geothermal play in

cementing American energy dominance," said Sarah Jewett, Fervo's

vice president of strategy.

The plant's construction has been a boon to the local

economy. Milford Mayor Nolan Davis advocated for the project to

replace jobs lost when pork producer Smithfield Foods ( SFD )

cut ties with hog farms in the area.

Melissa Wunderlich, a lifelong Milford resident, used to own

one of those farms. These days she owns a drive-through diner

that is generating more than half of its sales by feeding

workers at the Fervo plant.

"I've catered for the governor, I catered for Bill Gates,"

Wunderlich said. "Fervo has been really good."