California will help clean energy projects claim federal tax credits that are expiring as a result of the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB). The bill, passed into law in July, largely repealed the energy tax credits enacted under the Inflation Reduction Act. Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on August 29, 2025 directing state agencies to track and prioritize projects that can claim these tax credits before they expire.
The order directs the state’s Energy Working Group, which is part of the so-called Infrastructure Strike Team, to immediately to identify projects that are eligible for expiring tax credits and that can begin construction before July 2026 or come online by December 2027. The group is to support state agencies in accelerating and prioritizing “all permitting, approval, and other agency actions that would enable and expedite the development of such projects.”
The order also requests the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to
Identify critical generation and storage projects expected to come online in the next three years and request that utilities under its jurisdiction prioritize actions to enable them to interconnect.
Coordinate with utilities and the CAISO, the state’s utility operator, to identify priority actions to expedite transmission development that can support the connection of new resources in the next three years.
Streamline project reviews by relying on recent updates to the CPUC’s transmission siting and permitting processes.
The order requests CAISO to identify and prioritize connecting commercially ready generation and energy storage resources, consistent with the CAISO tariff, to existing transmission infrastructure to support grid reliability for the CAISO balancing area.
The order directs the California Energy Commission (CEC) to review projects in its ongoing siting processes for any that may be eligible for the expiring federal tax credits. The CEC must also review its project siting processes for any additional opportunities to streamline project reviews.
The orders directs the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), and the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) to review and assess the project siting and permitting processes of the boards, departments and commissions within their respective agencies for any opportunities to streamline and prioritize projects that may be eligible for the expiring federal tax credits.
GO-Biz must work with local permitting authorities through its Clean Energy Permitting Initiative to identify additional opportunities to support streamlining efforts for acceleration of deployment of large- scale clean energy infrastructure projects and especially ones that may be eligible for the expiring federal tax credits.