Pennsylvania Governor Rolls Out Plan To Quickly Trace and Subside Power Plants, Hydrogen Projects

Harrisburg, Pa. (AP) – Gov. Josh Shapiro Said on Thursday that he wants to track the construction of large power plants in Pennsylvania and offer hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts for projects that supply electricity to the grid and use hydrogen.

Shapiro’s message comes a few days before delivering his third budget proposal to legislators in the midst of an energy wreath that threatens to raise electricity bills over Pennsylvania, the nation’s second largest natural gas -producing state.

Shapiro, a Democrat, said he wants to start “next chapter in Pennsylvania’s long history of energy management” and keep up with other states that attract large projects, such as data centers and electric vehicle factories.

“Pennsylvania, it’s time for us to be more competitive. It’s time for us to act. We have to take some big and crucial steps right now, building new sources of power so that Pennsylvania is not missing out, ”Shapiro said at a news conference at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Shapiro said Pennsylvania is one of only 12 states that do not have a device to fix the energy project decisions. He will change it by creating Pennsylvania reliable energy location and electric transition board to streamline permission and support for new energy projects.

“We need shovels in the ground now, not in the coming years,” Shapiro said.

The tax credits proposed, Shapiro suggests are aimed at large projects that produce electricity, using hydrogen and production of hydrogen -based aviation fuel.

A new power plant could qualify for up to $ 100 million per year. Years for three years based on the amount of current that the plant can produce under Shapiro’s plan.

Shapiro administration said it would leave it to legislators to hammer out what kind of power plants would qualify for a tax credit even though they said it would not include the proposed reboot of the closed Three nuclear power plant in the island island To feed data centers operated by the tech giant Microsoft.

At the federal level was former President Joe Biden’s administration adopted rules Last year as a centerpiece of his efforts to fight climate change by demanding coal and newer gas systems with higher needs to cut their carbon dioxide emissions by 90% to reduce planetary heating greenhouse gases from an important source.

For the other tax credits, a hydrogen user could qualify for up to $ 49 million a year, and an aviation fuel manufacturer could qualify for up to $ 15 million a year under Shapiro’s plan. The hydrogen -related tax credits are an attempt to create demand for the two Federally subsidized Hydrogen making projects where Pennsylvania or some of its businesses and institutions play a role, another part of the bite’s agenda to curb climate change.

The plans require the approval of legislators. Republican lawmakers have been critical of Shapiro’s energy policy and said it is an important obstacle for Pennsylvania to attract companies that want to build large new natural gas -fired power plants and stabilize the electricity grid.

Shapiro’s plans provoked applause from advocates of renewable energy, while business groups repeated Republican criticism, but said they were encouraged by Shapiro’s focus on energy.

Shapiro’s plan revealed last year To make power plants in the country’s third largest energy -producing state salary for their greenhouse gas emissions and require utilities to buy more electricity from sustained sources, no traction was given in the legislature.

A project, Shapiro said he will help is one Suggestions from natural gas maker CNX resources To build a $ 1.5 billion plant at Pittsburgh Airport to produce hydrogen -based fuels.

CNX has said it would only go through with it if the federal government allows coal mine methane to qualify for Tax credits It was central to the bite’s plan to fight climate change.

The rapid growth of cloud computing and Artificial intelligence has burned the demand for energy-hungry data centers that need power to run servers, storage systems, networking equipment and cooling systems.

It’s spurred suggestions to bring nuclear power plants out of retirementDevelop small modular nuclear reactors and build utility scale sustained installations or new natural gas systems.

However, the growth of the energy needs comes at a time when the power supply is already strained by the efforts to change away from planet -heating fossil fuels and closure of aging nuclear power plants.

In recent months, governors, including Shapiro and state taxpayers, have pushed the operator of the mid -Atlantic electricity grid to reduce the amount of money it offers to power plants, warns that it will unfairly raise electricity bills throughout the region.

__

This story has been corrected to show that the hydrogen tax is for companies that use it does not.

__

Follow Marc Levy on x on: https://x.com/timelywriter.