Arizona Clean Energy Leaders Warn: Repealing Federal Investments Will Kill Jobs and Raise Costs

PHOENIX – On Thursday, April 17, Arizona leaders, including Maren Mahoney, director of Governor Katie Hobbs’ Office of Resiliency, joined Climate Power for a press call to discuss how a potential repeal of America’s clean energy investments by Congress and the Trump Administration would raise energy prices and threaten thousands of good-paying jobs in the state. 

The House Ways and Means Committee is preparing a new budget bill that could threaten clean energy manufacturing and cost-savings investments. But these initiatives have strong bipartisan backing—including 21 House Republicans urging the Chairman of that Committee to preserve tax credits and Republican Governors asking the Trump administration to honor existing clean energy commitments.

Watch the event recording here (code: aF#74QLg). 

Since new clean energy investments were signed into law in 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, Arizona’s clean energy projects have spurred $12.75 billion in investment and helped create or move forward more than 18,700 good-paying clean energy jobs, which could disappear if Congress cuts clean energy tax credits. 

“When it comes to energy dominance, solar is our most abundant resource here in Arizona. Federal and state governments should be easing the path to developing this and other affordable, clean resources. Whether it’s energy efficiency, or it’s solar, wind, and batteries, these sources are lowering costs for Arizonans, creating new jobs and small businesses, and decreasing pollution in our state. It’s helping the future of our communities.” said Maren Mahoney, director of the Office of Resiliency.

“Arizona is the sunniest state in the country, and we are fortunate that is the case, because we’re seeing dramatic growth in manufacturing. Solar can play an important role both in economic development, but also in ensuring a reliable and affordable grid,” said Autumn Johnson, Executive Director of AriSEIA. “Arizona has nearly 10,000 solar jobs at almost 350 companies, representing a total of $21.9 billion in total investment in the state.”

“As a manufacturer, we’ve been really excited to see the growth that’s happened [since passage of the Inflation Reduction Act],” said Eric Goodwin, Vice President of Business Development with OMCO Solar. “2024 was the first year that solar was our largest growth market. We were able to add many jobs and we are looking to continue to see the growth of domestic manufacturing, and it’s directly correlated to these tax credits. If we lose these credits, or if they’re pulled back, it’ll pull a tremendous amount of jobs and momentum. This also would have  a negative impact on what our administration is trying to do for the US to be an exporter of energy and have energy dominance.”

“Across the board, these programs [created by the Inflation Reduction Act] are helping drive clean energy deployment, manufacturing and investment in Arizona and, in doing so, are lowering utility bills,” said Robbie Orvis, Senior Director, Modeling and Analysis at Energy Innovation. “Removing these tax credits and funding programs will only serve to undercut that deployment and will raise costs for Arizonans while reducing the state’s economic growth and employment.”

Orvis added: “We’ve found that repealing these tax credits and clean energy funding programs would cause bills in Arizona to increase. By 2035, without those programs and tax credits, the average household in Arizona would see a $160 increase in annual energy bills.”

“We have several dozen contractors that employ the apprentices from our program,”said Shawn Hutchinson, Phoenix Electrical JATC Apprenticeship Program. “Our program has grown, in particular, the last five years. We used to hover around 200 or 300 apprentices consistently throughout the many decades we’ve been around. In the past five years, we’re coming in between 1,300 and 1,500 apprentice electricians that are here to learn the trade and contribute to what is looking to be a 12 percent year-over-year growth forecast through the year 2033 for this trade, in particular. The impacts of these investments in clean energy, as well as the entire energy portfolio, are really driving a lot of really good, high-paying jobs and a serious impact in a positive way to the economy in providing such consistent work.”

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