The end of 2016 also witnessed the end of eight years of tax credits that subsidized commercial and residential geothermal installations across the U.S. While the change had been coming for some time, the geothermal industry maintains it is being disproportionally harmed by the end of the credits after the 114th Congress in 2016 extended similar credits for other renewable technologies such as wind and solar while leaving out geothermal entirely.
The result, said Geothermal Exchange Organization President and CEO Doug Dougherty, is an unfair situation that puts geothermal manufacturers and contractors at a disadvantage through 2021.