Colorado Industrial Tax Credit Offering
Accelerating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from industrial facilities.
Funding Overview:
Type: Refundable Tax Credit
For: Industrial Facilities
Amount: $168 million total; up to $8 million per eligible project
Match: Varies
Program length: Until all tax credits are reserved, or through 2032
Application cycles: Semi-annual, closing on June 30 and December 31 of each year. The current application round is open April 1 - June 30, 2025
When businesses invest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now, they’re helping create a sustainable and prosperous Colorado. To make the choice simpler, the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) offers the Colorado Industrial Tax Credit Offering (CITCO) – $168 million in refundable tax credits for industrial facilities to explore and implement greenhouse gas emission reduction projects.
Invest today. Save tomorrow.
The Colorado Industrial Tax Credit Offering (CITCO) is a competitively awarded, refundable tax credit.
What is a refundable tax credit? A refundable tax credit is a credit you can receive as a refund on your taxes if the credit amount is more than the amount of taxes you owe.
Newsletter
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Webinar and Office Hours
Informational Webinar
CEO hosted an information webinar about the CITCO program and application requirements for the third funding opportunity.
Watch the CITCO Cycle 3 Informational Webinar
CEO will also host office hours every other Wednesday at 1:00 PM MT during the application submission period, starting April 16. To register, click the link below and use the drop down menu to select the office hours session you’d like to attend.
Register for Office Hours
All questions answered during office hours will be added to the Program Q&A. Applicants may also submit questions through the form linked below or via email to ceo_citco@state.co.us.
Submit questions
CEO will publish responses to all questions on the document linked below on a rolling basis.
View Cycle 3 Q&A responses
Eligible Applicants
Manufacturing facilities of all sizes in Colorado that are considering decarbonization solutions to offset greenhouse gas emissions, improve operational efficiency, incorporate more sustainable equipment and save money. Eligible applicants include:
- Industries within North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes 31-33 (manufacturing)
- All GEMM-I and GEMM-II facilities
- Energy service companies (ESCOs), carbon management developers and special purpose vehicles (SPVs) (e.g. joint ventures or limited partnerships)
Eligible Projects
CITCO funding can be used toward industrial studies, retrofit, expansion and new build projects. Studies might include energy and emissions audits or feasibility studies.
Eligible projects include:
- Industrial Studies, including:
- Industrial energy and emissions audits
- Feasibility studies
- Pre-FEED and front-end engineering and design studies meeting CITCO’s standards
- Improvements at existing and new/expansion facilities that help measurably reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including:
- Replacing fossil-fuel-powered off road equipment, such as forklifts and construction equipment, with electric equipment
- Replacing fossil-fuel-fired equipment for space or water heating or industrial process heating with high-efficiency electric equipment
- Replacing fossil-fuel-fired or compressed air-driven industrial process equipment with high-efficiency electric equipment
- Placing in service advanced refrigeration systems that reduce greenhouse gas emissions
- Placing in service waste heat recovery technology
- Upgrading or implementing energy monitoring systems
- Improvements that help measurably reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including (cont.):
- Installing high efficiency electric pumps, motors, compressors, and lighting
- Installing variable volume or load efficiency equipment
- Installing carbon capture equipment that demonstrates a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and provides a permanent durable carbon storage plan; the captured carbon may not be used for enhanced oil recovery
- Installing equipment used for collection of biomethane
- Replacing fossil-fuel-fired equipment with hydrogen fueled equipment
- Installing hydrogen fueling stations for fuel cell vehicles at industrial facilities
- Converting fossil-fuel-powered pumps, compressors, and controllers to compressed air-driven or electric-driven pumps, compressors, and controllers
- Installing onsite energy storage
- Installing or upgrading to utility service feed equipment to directly support the implementation of any of the electrification improvements
- Placing in service carbon management systems including direct air capture and other forms of carbon dioxide removal
- Thermal energy storage projects
- Material substitutions within industrial processes to reduce industrial process emissions by a minimum of 20% percent when compared to existing production practices; and
- Other similar improvements as established in CITCO’s standards
Please Note: The office may reserve credits for the current or any future tax year based on the anticipated completion or in-service date indicated in the entity's application. However, credits may not be reserved for studies or projects completed before the end of the application and approval process.
How It Works
Download and review all the Application Materials and CITCO standards and guidelines, including general standards and guidelines and project type specific standards and guidelines
Submit the application through the CITCO application portal. CEO is not currently accepting applications.
View CITCO application demo video
An evaluation committee will review and score applications based on predefined selection criteria.
CEO will enter a formal Tax Credit Agreement with awardee outlining terms and conditions to receive the tax credit.
CEO will provide a tax credit certificate for the awardee to file with the Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) during their tax filing period upon project completion
DOR reduces tax liability for tax year and amount outlined in Conditional Agreement, refunding any remaining amount as applicable.
Additional Resources
View first application cycle CITCO Q&A Responses
View second application cycle CITCO Q&A responses
Additional project funding opportunity available through the Collective Clean Energy Fund (CCEF):
Learn more about CCEF's offerings
