5 March '09
9:35 AM EST
No Comments
  Biofuel
  Cleantech
  Solar
  Wind

In and around the green

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
5 March '09
5:50 AM EST
No Comments
  Cleantech
  Funding

The Treasury: clean energy’s new VC

While the size of the stimulus — $787 billion — and its green slant have been widely covered, little has been said about some of the more fundamental structural changes brought on by this package.

One, is a provision that will see the federal government directly fund  renewable energy projects via nontaxable, direct cash payments from the Treasury Department. The stimulus allocates about $40 billion for clean energy investments, for more on this, see here.

This funding provision will help reshape the “way in which U.S. renewable/alternative energy assets are financed,” wrote international law firm Winston & Strawn in a recent briefing put together by its tax and energy practice.

Until the economic crisis, one common funding source for clean energy projects included tax credits. Because many developers did not have large enough profits to benefit from these fiscal incentives, they turned to financial institutions which in exchange for the credit opened the funding tap. With the economic crisis, that funding route has  all but evaporated.

The government grants will be made available for projects that either go in service in 2009 or 2010, or if construction on the projects  start in 2009 or 2010, says the Winston briefing.

With this hands on approach the firm ponders whether, moving forward there will even be  a role for tax equity investment structure.

The firm writes:

“With the advent of the Stimulus Act… the first question that has come to the minds of many developers and investors in renewable energy is whether there continues to be any need for any investment financing structures (with their expense and complications) at all. Instead of depending on an institutional equity investor to provide capital, based on its ability to use Production Tax Credits (PTC) or Investment Tax Credit (ITC), the thought is that the developer could simply collect an amount equivalent to the ITC from Treasury under the grant program and otherwise finance projects through more traditional, non-tax oriented sources.”

Winston adds that the government funds are only temporary and the coming months will provide a “better sense of what the market will adopt as the best financing structure” over the long-term.

Go to the Winston & Strawn briefing

4 March '09
8:33 AM EST
No Comments
  Cleantech
  Solar
  Wind

In and around the green

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
3 March '09
3:45 PM EST
No Comments
  Cleantech

California Energy Commission: $300M from stimulus for clean energy investments

The California Energy Commission expects to get $300 million, from the $787 billion  stimulus signed into law last month, to  “promote [energy] conservation, increase energy efficiency and expand renewable energy in California,” it said in a written statement emailed Tuesday.

The Commission also announced the launch of a stimulus Web site that will allow tax payers to track and have a say on how  stimulus monies are spent. for more, see here.

Last week — as reported by GER — the Commission issued a request for proposal for research in view of constructing a California smart grid. For more on that initiative, see here.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
3 March '09
2:11 PM EST
No Comments
  Cleantech
  Funding

BP cuts green energy investments

In this morning’s media call by BP, Chief Executive Tony Hayward said the company’s cleantech  expenditure for 2009 would hover between $500 million and $1billion, a steep cut compared to the $1.4 billion it invested in the sector  last year.

Despite the scale back, Hayward reaffirmed investments in wind generation projects in the U.S. and Europe and growth of its solar cells manufacturing capacity, including the possible opening of a new plant in southeast Asia. Last year the company shut down a solar panel plant in Australia.

Hayward added that it would also expand biofuel investments at its Tropical BioEnergia ethanol venture in Brazil, which began operating one refinery this year and is considering constructing a second facility for a combined $1 billion investment. While growing investments in Brazil, last month the company said it would tighten investments at D1, its other biofuel venture, which produces oil from jatropha plants. For more on this, see here.

In the Middle East, Hayward reiterated planned investments for its 420 MW Hydrogen-fired power generation plant in Abu Dhabi, which it’s jointly developing with Masdar. Once operational, the facility will capture its CO2 output for injection in operating oil and gas fields to ease the recovery process.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Page 164 of 184« First...«162163164165166»...Last »