The top state for clean energy jobs could lose them all to GOP budget bill cuts

Georgia is potentially facing the greatest loss of clean energy jobs in the nation if the House GOP’s “big, beautiful bill,” which is now in the Senate, is passed. A new report released by Senator Raphael Warnock estimates that as many as 42,000 jobs, created by 51 clean energy projects that represent more than $28 billion in investments statewide, will be in jeopardy if the clean energy tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are repealed.

The report highlights the state’s position as the top beneficiary of IRA incentives, leading in clean energy job growth with the most announced or advanced projects underway. Following the IRA’s passage in 2022, Georgia has seen more than $4.50 in private investment for every $1 of federal funding received. 

“Georgia businesses and workers agree that we should protect investments that are spurring good-paying manufacturing jobs across the state,” Senator Warnock said in a statement to EnergySage. “These investments are supporting Georgia jobs, Georgia manufacturing, and Georgia innovation, but those good-paying clean energy jobs are under threat.” 

“We should not be sacrificing Georgia jobs for tax cuts for folks who are already well off, and we cannot allow political games to derail a generational economic transformation that is already putting people to work and creating economic opportunity,” he said. 

Georgia is an IRA success story. It has led the nation in renewable energy growth since former President Joe Biden signed the IRA into law in 2022. Sen. Warnock’s analysis of Georgia’s clean energy boom details the Peach State’s massive influx of public and private investment in domestic manufacturing since the beginning of 2023.

Georgia’s $28 billion in investments, second only to New York’s $115 billion, is just beginning to unleash the promise of a clean energy economy for Georgia workers and communities. 

While 42,000 new jobs have been created in Georgia—the most of any state—that figure is poised to grow significantly in the next few years as more clean energy projects come online. According to the Department of Energy, Georgia’s clean energy workforce is set to be “turbocharged” by an estimated $180 million investment in large-scale clean power generation and storage through 2030. All of that progress is under threat if the Republican budget bill is passed in its current form. 

The majority of these jobs and investments are primarily in Georgia’s rural areas and counties, where families with incomes below the national median and the lowest rates of higher education levels live, and who could benefit the most from local investment. Most of those areas also happen to be within Republican-led congressional districts. 

In fact, three of the top ten GOP districts for clean energy job growth are in Georgia: Rep. Buddy Carter’s 1st District, where a Hyundai Metaplant is located in Bryan County, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s 14th District, home to a QCells solar factory in Dalton (a new Qcells solar plant has been built in Georgia's 11th congressional district represented by Rep. Barry Loudermilk), and Rep. Mike Collins’ 10th District, where SK Battery is based in Commerce, Georgia. 

This reflects a larger pattern nationwide. More than 85% of funding from the IRA has flowed to red states, according to E2, creating a complex dilemma for the Republican-majority Congress as they clash over the fate of clean energy tax credits. 

As one of the biggest winners of the IRA’s climate subsidies, Georgia has seen a massive increase in federal support over the past three years. According to Sen. Warnock’s report, government funding jumped from just over $200 million in 2022 to more than $1.1 billion in 2023, and $2.3 billion in 2024. 

The report calls out three provisions within the IRA that have helped Georgia reap the benefits of clean energy incentives and drive renewable investments: The 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production tax credit; which incentivizes domestic production of clean energy components, the 48C Advanced Energy Project tax credit; which supports investment in facilities that produce these components, and the 30D New Clean Vehicle credit; which provides up to $7,500 to qualified buyers of new clean energy (EV) vehicles that are assembled in North America.   

These tax credits have been instrumental in onshoring the clean energy supply chain and bolstering factory buildout in Georgia, turning it into the EV and domestic manufacturing hub it is today. 

If President Trump gets his way in repealing what he calls the “Green New Scam,” Georgia’s clean manufacturing investment boom could be stopped in its tracks. The current budget reconciliation bill would eliminate or accelerate the phaseout of many IRA credits to pay for the $4.5 trillion tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations that Trump is calling for, as well as introduce a number of stricter eligibility requirements. 

Among the proposed changes to IRA, the Investment tax credit (48 ITC) would be reduced to 6% by 2030 and eliminated by 2032. 45X credits would begin to phase out by 25% per year for components sold after December 31, 2029, before expiring after 2031, and the consumer tax credit for new EVs would phase out by the end of 2026.

The current legislation would also impose new restrictions on project financing, credit transferability, and eligibility for projects with ties to “foreign entities of concern” (FEOCs), such as China, which dominates the supply chain for raw materials and components used in clean energy technologies. 

In addition, clean energy projects must begin construction no later than 60 days after the bill’s passage and be placed in service by the end of 2028—a timeline that could be unworkable for many announced or early-stage projects.

Earlier this year, battery manufacturers Freyr Battery and Aspen Aerogels scrapped plans to build new factories in Georgia—projects that would have created 1,400 jobs and brought nearly $3 billion in investment to the state. These losses constitute just a fraction of the $14 billion in clean energy projects and 10,000 jobs which have been already cancelled since Trump took office in January, according to E2.

Other projects are still underway in Georgia, despite the uncertainty of federal funding cuts. Qcells continues to expand its new solar manufacturing facility in Cartersville, which is bringing approximately 3.3 GW of annual solar capacity and up to 2,000 jobs to the state.

In Cedartown, SolarCycle plans to invest $344 million in a solar glass manufacturing facility, the first of its kind in the U.S. to make new solar glass out of recycled materials from solar panels. The facility is expected to begin operations later this year, and create more than 600 jobs.  

Meanwhile, Hyundai's new $7.6 billion Metaplant America EV factory near Savannah and Qcells’ Dalton plant expansion are already transforming Georgia's manufacturing landscape and proving the economic power of American-made clean energy. 

IRA rollbacks wouldn’t just impact large-scale and commercial manufacturers. Local solar installers, nonprofits, and families also rely on its funding, and will feel the consequences of a repeal much sooner.

Under the current tax bill, the 25D residential solar tax credit, which provides a credit to U.S. homeowners equal to 30% of their solar installation costs, would be eliminated by the end of the year. Clean energy credits for individuals such as 25D and 30D, along with a range of other IRA programs—from subsidies enabling low-income households to install rooftop solar to home energy rebates reducing the cost of electrification—are already making tangible impacts on people’s daily lives.

Seth Gunning, CEO of Sunpath Solar, a local Georgia-based provider of solar energy solutions, says an IRA repeal would not only hurt his business, but the communities and homeowners he helps on an everyday basis. 

“We have been very fortunate to partner with many churches and organizations of faith around Georgia, and many of those projects have really been enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act's direct pay or elective pay provision, which allows nonprofits to capitalize on some of the tax incentives that they previously didn't have access to,” Gunning said. 

Without credits like 25C, Gunning says those in need will be the ones excluded from the clean energy transition: “The real impact is going to be to homeowners, farmers, local small business owners, and nonprofit faith communities who are already struggling to make ends meet and to pay increasingly high costs of power. Not having a way to access solar energy resources makes life that much more expensive.”

His advice to Congress? Consistency—and certainty—is key.

“The immediate elimination of the residential tax credit and the 60-day requirement for commenced construction on the commercial tax credit are really abrupt changes that make it hard for homeowners, businesses, nonprofits, and solar installers like us to effectively plan for the future,” said Gunning.

“Providing a roadmap, ideally several years, to sunset those credits is much better for the industry to be able to get its feet fully under itself,” he said.

The House budget bill, now under Senate consideration, would have serious consequences for Georgia if it retains these cuts to clean energy tax credits. Ending the Inflation Reduction Act's tax incentives would jeopardize billions in investments, kill good-paying jobs, and raise household electric bills by around $143 more per year for the average American household.  

To support Georgia’s clean energy future, use this form to contact your senators and urge them to preserve IRA tax credits like the federal solar tax credit, which are supporting the financial well-being of Georgia’s local businesses, families, and economy.