A federal judge over the weekend struck down a Trump administration effort to restrict tax credits for wind and solar energy.
While the ruling is a win for renewable energy supporters, it comes less than a month before a key deadline to phase out the credits entirely under Republicans’ “Big Beautiful Bill,” so it’s unclear how wide-reaching the decision will be.
Last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act phased out tax credits for solar and wind energy, saying projects can only get them if they start construction before July 5, 2026 or are placed in service before 2028.
At issue in the case is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) definition of starting construction.
D.C. federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote that since 2013, the IRS has recognized two ways that projects can begin: by starting “physical work of a significant nature” or by incurring costs of five percent or more of a project’s total cost.