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In today’s edition:

• America just hit the lithium jackpot

• The tax tweak supercharging Biden’s climate agenda

• Guidance coming for clean energy tax credits

Read time: 5 minutes

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HOTTEST TOPICS

1/ America Just Hit the Lithium Jackpot

Debrief: The article from The Atlantic discusses the recent discovery of the world's largest known lithium deposit in Nevada.

This significant find, located beneath an extinct volcano's crater, has the potential to influence contemporary geopolitics and the future of green energy, provided the lithium can be efficiently extracted and refined.

🌶 Hot take: The energy transition relies on Lithium. It’s the primary rare earth metal needed for batteries, making it critical for electric vehicles, energy storage, virtual power plants, and more.

I’ve mentioned before that the lithium mining industry is highly concentrated within a few companies, and the resources are mostly outside of the United States. So if you view climate change through the lens of national security and energy independence, a domestic resource is a huge win.

Whether or not that materializes is another question. Discovery is one thing. Extraction and exactly how much is useable is to be determined. Plus, the discovery is on ancestral tribal land and near the location of Burning Man, which has sued to prevent geothermal energy development in the past.

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2/ This tax tweak is supercharging Biden’s climate agenda

Debrief: Within President Biden’s landmark climate bill, a modification to IRS rules now allows companies to sell their clean energy tax credits.

This change, although a minor part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2022, is expected to significantly boost the clean energy sector by making these tax credits more accessible, potentially driving the majority of the government's investment in this area over the next decade.

🌶 Hot take: Opening up renewable energy tax credits to investors who aren’t involved in the projects - including nonprofits and governments who can skip the credit entirely - adds another layer of creative financing.

However, capturing these tax credits can be extremely complex. That makes it costly and time-consuming to pursue for organizations. There are startups like Crux that can make that easier but there’s still more tax credits out there than are being used.

3/ Guidance for the IRA’s 45X, other clean energy tax credits will arrive by year end, says Treasury

Debrief: The Treasury Department will provide guidance by the end of the year on the Inflation Reduction Act’s uncapped Section 45X manufacturing production tax credit and other related tax credits.

This move is part of the Biden administration's "phase two" for implementing the IRA’s clean energy provisions, with the Section 45X tax credit aiming to incentivize domestic production of key components for the clean energy sector.

🌶 Hot take: The slow rollout of these guidelines is a bit frustrating considering how long it can take to actually build and connect the end products, like offshore windfarms.

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Get Acclimate Pro

This is a free preview of the Weekly Debrief.

Want to go deeper? Join a community of industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers on the frontlines of the energy transition.

With Acclimate Pro, you’ll get…

• Weekly analysis of the energy transition

• Industry insights and deep dives

• Early access to private events and new products

• Access to funding, grants, and M&A database (annual only)

Get started with a FREE 14-day trial and a 50% early access discount. Offer available until September 30.

Talk soon,

- Rick Jarrell, Founder of Acclimate

🚀 Build. Deploy. Scale.