Advanced nuclear companies and others urge Senate to keep energy tax credits

(Reuters) -Energy companies representing technologies that provide baseload, or stable and consistent power, on Tuesday urged U.S. Senate leadership to preserve clean energy tax credits that were effectively gutted by a Republican bill passed last month by the House of Representatives.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Republicans including U.S. President Donald Trump have criticized clean energy tax credits for incentivizing intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar that vary depending on weather conditions. They say the nation needs more baseload power, which includes coal and natural gas, to serve soaring electricity needs tied to data centers and artificial intelligence.

But in the letter sent on Tuesday, a group of nuclear, energy storage, geothermal and hydropower companies and organizations said they, too, need the subsidies to support their baseload technologies.

KEY QUOTE

"Baseload technologies rely on these credits to secure financing, plan multi-decade investments, and build the infrastructure needed for a reliable and resilient grid. Altering the availability, phase-out schedule, or transferability of these credits would jeopardize the firm capacity now in active development and undercut America's broader goals of energy security and productive investment," the companies said in the letter addressed to Senators John Thune, the Republican leader, Chuck Schumer, leader of the minority Democrats, Mike Crapo, the Republican chairman of the Senate finance committee, and Ron Wyden, the committee's top Democrat.

The letter was signed by geothermal company Fervo Energy, storage firm Form Energy, nuclear technology companies Oklo and TerraPower, among others. It was also signed by several advocacy groups representing hydropower, geothermal and advanced nuclear energy.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Stephen Coates)