The Alabama Jobs Act, a seminal 2015 economic incentive law, further expanded by state lawmakers in the 2021 and 2023, could soon apply to companies that generate renewable energy to qualify as an activity elegible under the program. On Tuesday, State Sen. Arthur Orr presented his proposal to the Alabama Senate Energy & Commerce Committee as SB330.
“How do we put ourselves as a state in a position in the coming decades — not gonna happen a year or two — but in the coming decades in a position to be a powerhouse, if you will, for electrical generation,” Orr (R-Decatur) said. “And you look at all that’s going on coming out of Washington regarding renewables, and that’s part of this bill, but what how can we have low-cost power to provide for our, for our industries and residences and citizens in the years ahead?”
Orr’s bill introduces broader criteria for what constitutes a qualifying facility in alignment with the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) definition and would allow small power production facilities that meet certain ownership and efficiency standards to benefit from state incentives designed to promote job creation and capital investment in Alabama.
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“This has allowed our utilities to now think forward and build into their plan areas where they can build renewable energy facilities. With this bill, if this were to pass, the legislature would first set up where out of state utilities could own renewable energy facilities and so our taxpayer dollars to incentivize something like that, that had the potential to go outside of Alabama,” said Blake Hardwich on Tuesday, representing the Energy Institute of Alabama.
A representative from the Alabama Department of Commerce urged a consideration of the program’s cap, saying the expansion of incentives to benefit renewable energy facilities is lock in step with the future strategic plan of industry recruitment forthcoming from Secretary of Commerce Ellen McNair, “but we should take a little more time” to conduct and produce the report.
“We are launching a state strategic plan right now, economic development, and right now we’re starting next week with our quantitative study,” said Stefania Jones, “And the main goal of that is going to be to look at our target sectors like renewable energy and figure out what are the most profitable and investment worthy portions of those sectors, and I think this is absolutely something that will come up in that.”
The Senate committee held a public hearing on SB330 on Tuesday, which marks Day 24 of the 2024 state legislative session.
Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270
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