Grant guidelines for renewable energy released

San Francisco Business Times
Monday, July 13, 2009, 11:25am PDT | Modified: Monday, July 13, 2009, 12:01pm

The US. Departments of Energy and the Treasury and have released highly anticipated guidelines for a renewable energy grant program designed to keep new projects rolling even as crucial tax equity investment into those projects has dried up.

The grant in-lieu of tax credit provision is part of the federal economic stimulus. The grants provide up to 30 percent of a solar, wind, biomass or other renewable energy project’s cost in cash within 60 days of when the project is placed into service or when the government receives the final application . Before the stimulus, project owners could collect a tax credit of up to 30 percent, but many sold those credits to tax equity investors for cash. With the credit crisis and recession, plus the implosion of many investment banks that were the primary tax equity investors, many renewable projects have stalled.

Read the full story