TOPEKA — New federal guidelines to wind and solar tax credits took effect Monday, but large solar projects planned by Evergy won't be affected, a spokeswoman said.
The massive tax cut and spending law that Congress passed in July, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, limited tax credits for green energy projects, such as the two solar farms Evergy received regulatory approval to build in Kansas and Missouri.
Two weeks ago the U.S. Treasury Department published its interpretation of the bill, outlining deadlines for beginning construction and clarifying when certain tax credits would go away. That allowed companies to determine the viability of planned projects.
"The solar power plants that have been approved by the Kansas and Missouri commissions will be generating electricity for customers in time to qualify for the existing tax credits," said Gina Penzig, Evergy spokeswoman.
Joseph Astrab, consumer counsel at the Citizens' Utility Ratepayer Board, said tax credits are taken into account when determining expected costs on green energy projects.
"It's going to be hard to tell what the immediate impacts will be. It's going to be a process," he said. "The biggest importance of these tax credits was to help make renewable resources, such as wind or solar, more cost competitive with other types of resources, such as natural gas."
Astrab said the integrated resource planning, which utility companies complete on a regular basis, will address the effects federal changes will have on how energy is distributed in Kansas. In that process, the companies are considering resources, needs in the generation system and making a future-looking plan, he said.
"From CURB's perspective, we're looking at both trying to balance affordability and reliability," he said. "But clearly from the public hearings we've seen in the past and recently with different rate cases, a lot of people are concerned about affordability."
"In the last few years, we've been able to compare solar and wind projects to thermal projects, including the offset of those tax credits to make it more economical," Astrab added. "That analysis will change going forward."
A lot depends on how Evergy will evaluate projects going forward, he said.
"Looking at Evergy's 2025 (integrated resource plan), the question becomes whether or not Evergy is going to be shifting away from procuring more solar, renewable types of resources in a system, and falling back on — and I'm not saying it's a sure thing — more readily accessible, economical natural gas resources and procuring more of those."
Evergy received approval from the Kansas Corporation Commission to build two new natural gas plants, as well as the Kansas solar field, to the tune of about $2 billion.
Penzig said Evergy develops a long-term outlook for expected electricity demand every three years and a plan to meet needs.
"We create a plan that will provide reliable electricity for the least expected cost," she said. "Plans are updated annually between the triennial filings as factors change."
The plans look at multiple factors that affect generation costs, Penzig said.
"Some of the most significant impacts include expected demand for electricity, construction costs including any related transmission expansion, fuel, plant maintenance, major plant upgrades, environmental regulation and state or federal policy treatment including tax benefits," she said.
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