Albany, NY – On Thursday, December 15th, New Yorkers for Clean Power and the NY Geothermal Energy Organization delivered a letter to Governor Cuomo calling on him to include a 25% tax credit for geothermal installations in his upcoming state budget. In November, the Governor had vetoed a geothermal tax credit bill which had been passed overwhelmingly by the Legislature in June. His veto message stated that, as a revenue impacting item, consideration of the tax credit belongs in the budget process.
The letter to the Governor was signed by more than 160 local elected officials, and representatives of NY businesses and environmental organizations.
The Geothermal Tax Credit Bill A9925/S6249, as passed by the legislature, gives a tax incentive of 25% up to $5,000 to homeowners and business owners to install geothermal heat pumps, a renewable energy technology for heating and cooling buildings.
The tax credit initiative comes at a crucial time for the geothermal industry, which employs about 1,000 people in the state and will be feeling the impacts from a 30% federal tax incentive that sunsets at the end of this year. The solar industry has benefited from a similar state tax incentive that has made the renewable energy source more affordable and accessible to homeowners and businesses in the state.
Geothermal is critical to executing New York State’s recently adopted aggressive mandate to achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals of 40 percent by 2030, as well as the internationally-recognized target of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050. The New York State Energy Plan states that 35% of New York’s climate damaging greenhouse gases come from on-site combustion, primarily to heat homes and buildings.
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