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The $900 billion COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress on Dec. 21 includes provisions of the Biomass Thermal Utilization Act and will enact a three-year investment tax credit (ITC) for high-efficiency home heating equipment that fires wood pellets, chips or cordwood.
Language for the ITC is contained on page 2,448 of the nearly 5,600-page bill. The credit applies to the installed cost of home heating and hot water systems that utilize wood pellets, chips and cordwood at efficiencies greater than 75 percent high heat value. The ITC is for 26 percent in 2021 and phases down to 22 percent in 2022 and 2023.
Charlie Niebling, a consultant for wood pellet producer Lignetics, has been working to enact the BTU Act for more than a decade. He called the ITC for residential wood heaters a “gamechanger” for residential wood heating.