McGuireWoods partner Durham McCormick, co-leader of the firm’s renewable energy team, shared insights with Law360 for a Jan. 1, 2025, story on energy transactional trends to watch in 2025.
Attorneys interviewed by Law360 said some clean energy developers are bracing for the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans will follow through on vows to repeal all or parts of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes tax credits and other incentives to promote renewable energy development.
Developers who did not begin construction or spend enough money on their projects by the end of 2024 to qualify for eligibility safe harbors under the IRA’s clean energy tax credits will try to do so as quickly as possible in 2025, attorneys told Law360. Developers with projects that are further along might wait a few months to see what the new administration and Congress produce before resuming progress, McCormick said.
“People want to see what the first drafts of the first bills look like,” said McCormick, who focuses on tax structuring for renewable energy transactions. “There might be a bit of a pause between January … and the middle to end of summer, depending on how fast proposals come out.”