Two national news organizations covering recent Treasury guidance issued pursuant to a White House order affecting wind and solar projects sought insights from McGuireWoods Houston associate Aaron Mitchell, who focuses on tax structuring of energy transactions.
E&E News, a subsidiary of Politico that covers energy and environmental policy, asked Mitchell about the Treasury Department’s anticipated interpretation of an executive order calling for the restriction of tax credits for wind and solar energy projects. In an Aug. 15, 2025, article, E&E reported that utilities and other stakeholders were worried Treasury would make it more difficult to qualify for tax credits based on a “beginning of construction” metric practiced for years.
Mitchell said, “The ‘beginning of construction’ is a very important concept in project finance that is meant to bring predictability to project financing — it serves to ‘lock in’ the tax credit rules that a project will be analyzed under.”
Mitchell added, “The on-site physical work test for ‘beginning of construction’ has been around for a long time. . . and it most likely could not be modified in a substantial way for general renewable energy credit qualification purposes in a way that is legal.”
In an Aug. 18, 2025, story published after Treasury issued its guidance on the tax credits, Inside EPA’s “Climate Extra” quoted Mitchell’s assessment: “[W]e view the guidance as very favorable when compared to what has been rumored to come out.” Treasury retained a four-year timeline for a requirement known as “continuity,” despite speculation that it might shorten the timeline to two-and-a-half years, Mitchell explained. The story also noted that the physical work test was not modified by the guidance.