Bice: Senate candidate Eric Hovde has learned to love tax credits for solar energy he used to hate

What a difference 12 years make.

Back in 2012, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde said he was "wholeheartedly" opposed to tax credits for green energy — much to the delight of the conservative audience at a GOP primary debate.

"This is crony capitalism at its worst," Hovde said. He also took shots online at one of his opponents for taking such credits.

Now Hovde has flipped the switch.

in 2021, Hovde started pitching his bank clients on "big solar green energy tax credits." A year later, Hovde’s Sunwest Bank launched a Solar Finance division: "Commercial solar loans allow building owners to take advantage of tax credits and depreciation."

Last year, Sunwest committed to funding more than $200 million in commercial solar projects annually and pointed to solar credits contained in President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act: "We are always looking for ways to save our clients time and money, as well as make their businesses more efficient."

So what happened? Why are Hovde's Utah-based banks so fired up about tax credits for those using solar power?

His critics say it's all about the bottom line. He likes solar energy now because his banks can profit from it.

"Eric Hovde is your typical self-serving, rich politician who says one thing and does the other, all to line his own pockets and make a quick buck," said Arik Wolk, rapid response director for the state Democratic Party.

In an interview, Hovde didn't deny that he reversed course on the issue. In fact, he can even pinpoint when that happened.

He said he first started getting inquiries about solar energy four or five years ago.

"Then I started looking at it in '21, and I was like, 'Hmm, actually, my assumptions were wrong,'" he said. "And again, I didn't realize how the technology changed."

First, he said the cost of solar power has collapsed in the past decade and solar technology has gotten much better. For instance, he said the batteries have improved so that people can draw on solar power even at night.

"Battery storage and the battery storage technology is really improving," he said. "The one good thing about mankind is, you know, we're very innovative species."

At the same time, Hovde said, the cost of electricity has been skyrocketing, especially in places such as California, where Sunwest has three banks.

He provided charts showing San Diego Gas & Electric has boosted its rates by 78% over the past 12 years and Pacific Gas & Electric has hiked its by 47% — both far outpacing the rate of inflation over that period.

Beyond that, he said hospitals and cold-storage facilities need round-the-clock power but several California communities have experienced brownouts because of excess electricity demand. Here, he said, solar power can step in and provide the energy that is needed.

"Today, tax credits are beneficial because the underlying usage makes sense," he said.

But Hovde emphasized that he remains dubious about providing tax credits for other forms of green energy, such as wind turbines and electric vehicles. Neither, he said, is economically viable, and he called the credits for them "tax games" and "tax schemes."

He said he also believes that anyone who thinks they can move the economy from its traditional fuel sources in the next decade or so is "smoking crack cocaine." Worldwide, he said, consumption of oil, gas and coal has increased by 58% between 1995 and 2022.

By contrast, experts say planet-warming fossil fuels are neither sustainable nor safe and bold action is needed to keep more lives from being put at risk. They say the world is already experiencing many climate change–linked extreme weather events, including the hottest 12 months ever recorded.

In short, Hovde said it's unfair to say he has flip-flopped since he called green energy tax credits "crony capitalism" in 2012. The ground has shifted since then, he argued.

"So if you talk about green energy credits today versus 12, 14 years ago, it is like talking night and day," he said. "It's just a totally different market."

Hovde said he would love to debate Baldwin on the issue of energy. He said he is so interested in the issue because so much of the economy is tied to it.

Well, a Hovde-Baldwin debate is probably not happening anytime soon. Instead, Hovde will have to settle for squaring off against Baldwin's various surrogates.

Here, for example, is Alexandra De Luca, vice president of communications at American Bridge, a liberal group, on Hovde's newfound support of solar energy tax credits.

"He's a rich guy who wants to be richer, and now wants to be in the U.S. Senate, and will do and say anything to make that happen," De Luca said. "What this has shown is that you can't trust Hovde to tell the truth, act in anyone's interest outside of his own, or be transparent about the issues facing Wisconsinites."

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or [email protected]. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Senate candidate Eric Hovde now loves solar energy he used to hate