As part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (the "Act"), Congress extended and increased the 45Q tax credits for carbon capture and storage ("CCS") projects. The Act increased credits for enhanced oil recovery from $10 per ton to $35 per ton and increased the credits for geological carbon storage from $20 per ton to $50 per ton. Raising capital for CCS projects has long been an issue, and developers of CCS projects often do not have the tax appetite to take full advantage of the tax credits available. The extension of the 45Q credits would allow large CCS projects to generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year, incentivizing tax equity investors to step in and provide funding for projects in order to reap the considerable tax benefits, similar to the tax equity deal structures seen in the renewable energy sector. While the 45Q credits makes CCS projects more viable, CCS technology is still very expensive and cost-cutting advances will likely need to be developed before a CCS project market is able to thrive.
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