The GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill, passed in July, spent dozens of pages defining how it would define “foreign entity of concern.” The new law will restrict clean energy companies doing business with China, Iran, and North Korea from being eligible for certain tax credits — but not quite yet.
President Trump issued an executive order after OBBB’s passage directing the Treasury Department to issue initial interpretive guidance for these FEOC restrictions in August. This guidance — which would typically span hundreds if not over a thousand pages — would ideally answer the many questions left open by OBBB: from who qualifies as a “prohibited foreign entity” to which technologies are most at risk.
But four months later, the industry is still waiting.
Nevertheless, many companies are already acting on what little information they have, according to a recent report from the clean energy finance platform Crux, which surveyed 50 organizations including utility-scale and community solar developers, independent power producers, battery and equipment manufacturers, and utilities.
“Despite ongoing uncertainty, most companies are not waiting for guidance from the U.S. Departments of the Treasury or Energy to act,” the report found. “More than 90% have already initiated ownership reviews, contract audits, and supply chain mapping.”
This isn’t as simple as just avoiding direct or indirect links to the three countries implied by the initial law. As Jason Clark, CEO of consulting firm Power Brief, told Latitude Media in a July webinar, “the checklist of what qualifies somebody to be a prohibited foreign entity is very long and complicated.”
“There’s not a list you can just pull up and be like, here’s who’s prohibited and here’s who’s not,” Clark added. “And I think that’s where a lot of the anxiety is coming from.”
The components most likely to be impacted by the FEOC rules include solar PV modules, battery packs, and inverters/converters; experts have told Latitude Media that the new rules are likely to make sourcing solar cells in particular both more difficult and more expensive. The wind supply chains are likely to be effectively insulated from risk, project developers told Crux.
Of the 50 companies Crux surveyed, about 20% said that they have “some degree of ownership” by companies operating in one of the three countries of concern; some of those with issues are exploring options including liquidating that ownership and renegotiating contracts.
Even those that don’t expect to have exposure, however, are in a tricky position; without even the draft guidance, the companies are essentially flying blind. But they know enough to expect to have a much harder time securing tax credit eligibility starting in 2026. To prepare, 72% have already engaged outside legal or consulting help to interpret FEOC standards.
Though a majority of the firms that Crux surveyed have made some moves to build frameworks, just 38% say they are “fully prepared” for next year. That said, most anticipate that they’ll have to do additional reviews or otherwise refine their programs once they have more clarity.The Crux report echoes previous findings from the PPA marketplace LevelTen Energy, which found that 76% of solar projects and 86% of wind projects slated to come online by the end of 2028 are already safe-harbored. That report, out in mid-November, found that the safe harbored projects amount to roughly 33 gigawatts of capacity that will be eligible for tax credits.
