The U.S. geothermal heat pump industry was breaking out the champagne on Feb. 9, 2018. That’s the day President Donald Trump signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, a bill that boosted government spending by hundreds of billions of dollars. A tiny part of that bill served as the “sled” for reinstating the 30% federal income tax credit on geothermal heat pump systems that had expired on Dec. 31, 2016. Those credits, which were originally put in place in 2009 as a temporary way to stimulate market growth, are now back in place through the end of 2022.
Those who took their chances with geothermal heat pump installations during 2017 also had reason to celebrate. The same spending bill made the tax credits retroactive to Jan. 1, 2017. It is as if the 30% federal tax credits never went away at the end of 2016.