300 companies oppose FEMA clean energy structural code adjustments

Oct 18, 2022 05:51 PM ET
  • Three-hundred as well as eighteen clean energy firms are calling on International Code Council (ICC) voters to reject a code proposal from FEMA that might create a spike in price for U.S. clean energy projects, and instead recommended a set of concession services.

The proposed FEMA modification to the 2024 International Building Ordinance, S76-22, would certainly require solar, storage and also wind projects to meet risk category IV requirements, the most rigorous category possible, that consists of centers like utilities and power-generating stations.

" The stated goal of FEMA's proposal is boosted grid reliability, yet when you needlessly make it more difficult to build resistant clean energy, the evident impact is a decrease in reliability," claimed Abigail Ross Hopper, head of state as well as chief executive officer of SEIA. "This overreach is being made in an opaque procedure without input from experts on economic effects, electrical reliability as well as climate change. America's solar and also storage sector is advising International Code Council voters to consider the real-world impact of this code and also approve SEIA's concession proposals."

FEMA officials themselves validated they sustain the proposals advanced by SEIA and sustained by the Distributed Wind Energy Association, according to dental testament on Sept. 15 and a voter's guide that FEMA mailed out to voters on Oct. 13.

This concession framework (S79-22 and also S81-22) consists of a carve-out for solar projects to be assigned as Threat Category 2. It consists of a mild increase in structural requirements for solar facilities without leaping in expense by 30 to 40%, according to a price quote by Roth Capital Partners.

By contrast, the FEMA proposal will certainly need clean energy projects, which are essential to eliminating climate adjustment, to be constructed to endure harmful all-natural disasters far past what is required, SEIA mentioned in a press release. The organization expects that the switch to category IV will certainly lead to dozens of gigawatts of canceled clean energy projects.

The voting duration for ICC participants ranges from Oct. 17 with Nov. 1.


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