North Carolina is among the top states in the country for clean energy technology, from solar panels and battery plants to electric vehicles and public chargers. But changes at the federal level could slow down that boom.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to North Carolina’s clean energy sector, providing tax credits for businesses and consumers that invested in it, as well as funding for infrastructure like EV charging stations.

But the IRA is in the crosshairs for President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order halting any future spending under the IRA, and congressional leaders are calling for the elimination of renewable energy tax credits in the upcoming federal budget.

Conservatives say the subsidies are a waste of taxpayer dollars. But Gov. Josh Stein, D-North Carolina, says they’ve helped make the state a national leader in clean energy technology.

“Here in North Carolina, there’s more than $1.5 billion of announced or in progress investments in clean energy deployment,” Stein said. “That is on top of $4 billion of energy projects that are clean since 2018.”

Stein said a repeal of the tax credits in the IRA could pose a major threat to the state’s economy.

“Repealing these credits would cost the state tens of thousands of jobs by 2030, and billions of dollars in investment that is ready to be made,” Stein said Wednesday at a renewable energy forum.

Stein said cuts could endanger projects that are already underway, too. He said business investors need certainty, and they’re not getting that from the current federal government.    

“They were told that these credits existed,” Stein said. “Many of them have made major business decisions about investing in North Carolina. We’ve got to preserve those credits so that the companies get the bargain that they struck.”