The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released new guidance for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements included in the Inflation Reduction Act. The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August, includes—for the first time—high-road labor standards that go hand-in-hand with clean energy deployment. Specifically, to receive the full value of the tax credit, developers will have to pay a prevailing wage and utilize a certain percentage of registered apprentices in the projects. The guidance released today provides further details of how those requirements will work.

In response to the new guidance, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

“This guidance offers a preview of a new era for clean energy tax credits, which takes into account not only the vast emissions reduction potential of clean energy technology but also the opportunity it presents to create good-paying, accessible union jobs across the country. We look forward to continuing to work with the administration to maximize the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act for workers and communities.”