Lots of BO from the OBBBA
When President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBBA, into law on July 4th, he essentially eliminated renewable energy subsidies for residential solar by the end of this year.
Corporate and utility scale solar projects must now be placed in service by the end of 2027. If they begin construction within 12 months of the signing of the bill, they have four years to complete construction and still qualify for the energy incentives.
The question of the moment is, what qualifies as beginning construction?
Developers have relied on what are called safe harbor rules to determine when construction begins. Under these rules, they have two options.
The 5 percent cost method is where the developer must spend at least 5 percent of the cost of the project. Typically, they do this by buying inverters or solar panels and then often these are placed in a warehouse until the actual construction can begin.
