The US Department of Energy announced $1.93 billion of 48C tax credits for 35 clean energy manufacturing projects in April 2024. Enerdatics has itemised 20 of those awards across three records. They are not spread evenly. A single steel plant in Alabama receives more than the whole wind supply chain, the hydropower entry and the insulation maker combined, and the order of the list says something the headline total does not.
Key takeaways
- The US Department of Energy announced $1.93 billion of 48C Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit allocations for 35 projects across 20 states on 19 April 2024, part of roughly $4 billion of 48C credits the IRS allocated to more than 100 projects across 35 states.
- Enerdatics records 20 of the 35 April 2024 48C awards in three financing records worth $1,432.54 million combined: $760.36 million for 10 projects, $403.8 million for 4 projects and $268.39 million for 6 projects.
- ArcelorMittal's planned non-grain oriented electrical steel plant in Calvert, Alabama received the largest itemised 48C award in Enerdatics' records at $280.5 million, ahead of Highland Materials' polysilicon plant in Tennessee at $255.6 million.
- Six hydrogen and electrolyser manufacturers, including Topsoe at $135.9 million and Nel at $40.9 million, share $268.39 million of the April 2024 48C awards in Enerdatics' records.
- The three April 2024 48C records account for about 61 percent of the $2,352.54 million in US manufacturing tax credit financings Enerdatics records for 2024.
What is a 48C credit, and what did this round fund?
A 48C credit is a federal tax credit for investment in facilities that make clean energy equipment or cut emissions at industrial sites. It is allocated by competition, so the government decides which plants receive it and how much. That makes each round a list of policy choices rather than a market price.
This round's stated aims were to accelerate clean energy manufacturing and recycling, cut greenhouse gas emissions at industrial facilities and create jobs in clean energy sectors. The awards span batteries, solar materials, hydrogen equipment, steel, magnets, hydropower machinery, insulation and wastewater treatment.
Enerdatics logs the round in three records grouped by sector: a multi-sector record of 10 projects, an EV record of 4 projects and a hydrogen record of 6. Together they cover 20 of the 35 announced projects and about 74 percent of the $1.93 billion.
Which projects received the most?
Steel and silicon sit at the top, not finished products. Ranked by itemised award, the five largest are:
- ArcelorMittal, Calvert, Alabama: $280.5 million for non-grain oriented electrical steel, a material used in electric vehicle motors.
- Highland Materials, Surgoinsville, Tennessee: $255.6 million for solar-grade polysilicon made with a patented purification process.
- ENTEK, Terre Haute, Indiana: $201.98 million for a giga-scale factory making lithium battery separators.
- Topsoe, Chester, Virginia: $135.9 million for a planned factory making solid oxide electrolyser cell stacks.
- NOVONIX Anode Materials, Chattanooga, Tennessee: $103 million to equip a plant designed for 20,000 tonnes a year of synthetic graphite.
Those five take $976.98 million, about two thirds of everything Enerdatics has itemised from the round. The smallest award in the records is Voith's $5.8 million to re-equip its hydropower manufacturing site in York, Pennsylvania.
How is the money split by supply chain?
Grouping the itemised awards by what each plant feeds shows where the round leans. Battery materials lead: ENTEK's separators, NOVONIX's graphite, American Battery Technology Company's $19.58 million recycling plant in Nevada, Albemarle's $9.4 million lithium carbonate expansion at Silver Peak and Nth Cycle's $7.2 million metal refining project in Ohio add up to about $341 million.
Solar materials come next at about $320 million, from Highland's polysilicon and SOLARCYCLE's $64.2 million glass plant in Georgia, which uses recycled glass from retired solar panels as an input. Electric vehicle components take about $397 million once ArcelorMittal's steel is added to MP Materials' $58.5 million rare earth magnet plant in Texas and Mobis North America's $57.6 million for three EV parts plants in Georgia.
Wind receives one award: JSW USA's $43.5 million toward monopile-grade steel slabs at Mingo Junction, Ohio. The remainder goes to TimberHP's $16.8 million wood fibre insulation plant in Maine and the Middlesex County Utilities Authority's $40.5 million anaerobic digestion facility in New Jersey.
Where does hydrogen fit in the round?
Hydrogen gets its own record because the awards cluster around one piece of equipment: the electrolyser, the machine that splits water into hydrogen using electricity. Five of the six hydrogen awards back electrolyser production. Topsoe is planning its solid oxide stack factory in Virginia. Nel has been awarded up to $41 million for a planned expansion in Michigan, itemised at $40.9 million. John Cockerill receives $34.15 million for its first US electrolyser facility in Baytown, Texas, Electric Hydrogen $18.34 million for its gigafactory in Devens, Massachusetts, and Cummins $10.6 million for PEM electrolyser manufacturing at Fridley, Minnesota.
The sixth is different. Twelve Benefit Corporation's $28.5 million supports a factory in Alameda, California for electrolysers that convert carbon dioxide rather than water. Europe has funded the same equipment through a mix of grants, equity and bank debt, as Sunfire's electrolyser factory funding shows. The US version arrives as a tax credit.
Enerdatics' data shows 7 US manufacturing tax credit financings in 2024 worth $2,352.54 million in total. The three April 2024 48C records make up $1,432.54 million of that, about 61 percent, and the remaining four records total $920 million. Across all US tax credit financings in 2024, Enerdatics records 26 transactions worth $3,331.34 million, so a single day of 48C awards accounts for about 43 percent of the year's recorded value.
What does the round signal for US clean energy manufacturing?
It signals that federal support is reaching deep into the supply chain. The largest awards go to materials, such as electrical steel, polysilicon, separators and graphite, rather than to the assembly of finished panels, batteries or turbines. Those are the inputs where US capacity is thinnest, and the allocation reflects that.
It also signals how unevenly a single round can land. A handful of large plants absorb most of the money, while several projects receive less than $20 million each. Allocated credits sit alongside a separate market in which manufacturers sell credits they have already earned, as First Solar did when it sold up to $700 million of 45X manufacturing credits to Fiserv. One route depends on a competitive award, the other on production already achieved.
What remains open is the other 15 of the 35 projects. Enerdatics has itemised 20, worth about $1.43 billion, which leaves roughly $500 million of the announced $1.93 billion unassigned in its records. Where that balance landed would change the supply chain split above.
Frequently asked questions
How much did the April 2024 48C round award? The US Department of Energy announced $1.93 billion of 48C credits for 35 projects across 20 states. Enerdatics itemises 20 of those projects across three records totalling $1,432.54 million.
Which company received the largest 48C award in this round? In Enerdatics' records, ArcelorMittal received the largest itemised award, $280.5 million, for an electrical steel plant in Calvert, Alabama. Highland Materials was second with $255.6 million for a polysilicon plant in Tennessee.
How much of the round went to hydrogen? Enerdatics records $268.39 million for six hydrogen-related manufacturers, led by Topsoe at $135.9 million. Five of the six awards support electrolyser production.
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