Update 05/07/2020: The Treasury responded in a letter to Senator Chuck Grassley, saying it “plans to modify the relevant rules in the near future.” 

Update 05/28/2020: The Treasury confirmed that safe harbor provisions for the solar ITC will be extended until Oct. 15

A bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin on April 23 asking him to extend the ITC safe harbor deadline by one year for energy projects that started construction in 2016 or 2017.

“Providing a temporary extension of the continuity safe harbor of five years, in lieu of the current four, would address the unforeseen interruptions developers are experiencing due to COVID-19 and provide the certainty businesses need to move forward with existing projects,” the letter says.

SEIA has been pushing for an ITC safe harbor extension to help the solar industry account for construction delays due to COVID-19.

“This change certainly would help, especially for wind projects, which have a longer lead time and are closer to the ends of their continuity safe harbor. The continuity safe harbor is completely within the control of Treasury and IRS, since it arises out of their guidance. Therefore, they have the ability to change it immediately, which they should,” said Gregory Jenner, Stoel Rives energy partner, in a statement. “An important thing to note is the bipartisan nature of the signatories. This sends a strong signal that it is not a blue state/red state issue. That should help, to the extent the change would otherwise be perceived as fitting one side’s agenda over another’s.”

Read the full letter to Secretary Mnuchin below: