IncentivesRadar

October 30, 2026 · Federal incentives

What Survived OBBBA: A 2026 Guide to Federal Energy Incentives for Facilities

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (enacted July 4, 2025) repealed or accelerated the sunset of many of the Inflation Reduction Act's energy credits — which means most "IRA tax credit" guides written before mid-2025 are now partly wrong. Here's where things actually stand for facility owners as of late October 2026: what's gone, what's on a clock, and what quietly got better.

What's already gone

  • Consumer and fleet EV purchase credits (30D/45W/25E) terminated for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025. Federal support for buying the vehicles is over; charging infrastructure and state/utility programs are what remain (see below).
  • EV charging infrastructure (30C) ended for property placed in service after June 30, 2026. If your chargers were energized by that date, the credit survives on your 2026 return — document it.
  • Residential credits (25C/25D) ended December 31, 2025 — relevant only if your business touches housing.

What's on a clock — grandfathered projects only

  • §179D energy-efficient commercial buildings deduction: dead for projects that began construction after June 30, 2026. Projects that broke ground on or before that date remain eligible even if placed in service later — up to roughly $5.81/sq ft with prevailing wage and apprenticeship. If you have a grandfathered project, the paperwork proving construction start is now the whole game. Program details →
  • §48E/45Y clean electricity credits for wind and solar: projects must generally be placed in service by December 31, 2027 — unless construction began by July 4, 2026, which escapes the placed-in-service cliff. New foreign-entity (FEOC) sourcing rules apply either way. Non-wind/solar technologies — notably battery storage — keep a longer runway under the original phase-down. Storage details →

What survived — and what got better

  • §45Z clean fuel production credit was one of the few winners: extended two years, covering fuel sold through December 31, 2029. The trade-offs: feedstocks must be North American, producer ownership rules tightened, and the sustainable aviation fuel premium was cut. Treasury's proposed regulations are out and final rules are pending — worth watching if you produce RNG or other qualifying fuels. Program details →
  • §45Q carbon capture survived with credit-value parity for utilization — a meaningful improvement for projects that use CO₂ rather than sequester it. Program details →
  • Accelerated depreciation: 100% bonus depreciation was made permanent — often worth more in year-one cash terms than the repealed credits it now stands beside. Details →

The bigger shift: states and utilities now carry more weight

OBBBA changed federal law — it didn't touch the state tax credits, state grant rounds, and utility rebate programs that make up the majority of what a typical multi-site operator can actually claim. With the federal menu shorter, programs like state storage credits, utility C&I efficiency rebates, EV make-ready programs, and industrial grants are where relatively more of the money now lives. That layer was always harder to track than federal law — there's no single statute to read, just hundreds of agencies and utilities each moving on their own schedule.

This guide was written by the IncentivesRadar research system — the same weekly process that re-verifies every one of the programs in our public catalog against its official source. Guides like this one go stale every quarter; the radar doesn't. Add your facilities and it watches every federal, state, and utility program that applies to them — with alerts before deadlines close. Request access →

What facility teams should do now

  • Audit grandfathered positions: anything that began construction before July 2026 (179D projects, wind/solar) needs its construction-start documentation locked down.
  • Re-run the math on storage and non-wind/solar clean electricity — their longer runway makes them the natural next capex candidates.
  • Shift tracking effort to the state/utility layer, where programs open and close on administrative schedules no legislature announces.
  • Verify everything against the current source — including this article. Rules in this cycle have changed more in 18 months than in the prior decade.

Sources: One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21); Congressional Research Service reports on OBBBA energy provisions; Treasury/IRS proposed regulations under §45Z; analyses by RSM, Sidley Austin, and Clifford Chance (2025–2026). Informational only — confirm details with the administering agency or your tax advisor.