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By McDermott Will & Emery, Bradford E. LaBonte, Heather Cooper and Philip Tingle on Dec 21, 2016
Posted In Environmental, Power Markets, Renewables, Tax
On December 15, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2017-04, which provides welcome guidance on how to meet the “beginning of construction” requirements for wind and other qualified facilities. There has been much uncertainty about when construction of these types of facilities begins for renewable energy tax credit purposes. The Notice (1) extends the...
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FERC Proposes to Remove Barriers to Wholesale Market Participation for Electricity Storage and Distributed Energy Resource Aggregators
By McDermott Will & Emery on Nov 22, 2016
Posted In FERC, Power Markets
On November 17, 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) that, if adopted, would require organized wholesale electricity markets (RTO/ISO markets) to modify their open access transmission tariffs and market rules to accommodate electric storage resources and allow participation of distributed energy resource aggregators. This NOPR is part...
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Court Awards $206 Million to Alta Wind Projects in Section 1603 Grant Litigation
By McDermott Will & Emery, Heather Cooper, Kevin Spencer and Philip Tingle on Nov 4, 2016
Posted In Environmental, Project Development and Finance, Renewables, Tax
The US Court of Federal Claims awarded damages of more than $206 million to the Plaintiffs in a case with respect to the cash grant program under Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Section 1603 Grant). In its opinion, which was unsealed on Monday, October 31, the Court held...
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Final Regulations Define ‘Real Property’ for REITs: Considerations for Renewable Energy and Transmission Assets
By McDermott Will & Emery, Bradford E. LaBonte, Heather Cooper and Philip Tingle on Sep 29, 2016
Posted In Renewables, Tax, Uncategorized
On August 31, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and US Department of the Treasury issued final regulations (Final Regulations) under section 856 of the Internal Revenue Code to clarify the definition of “real property” for purposes of sections 856 through 859 relating to real estate investment trusts (REITs). The Final Regulations largely follow proposed...
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New York’s New Renewable Energy Standard
By McDermott Will & Emery on Sep 27, 2016
Posted In Environmental, Project Development and Finance, Renewables
Last week’s article discussed New York’s Zero-Emissions Credit (ZEC) for nuclear power. The ZEC is one component of New York’s Clean Energy Standard (CES). The other major component of the CES is the new Renewable Energy Standard (RES). In the RES, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) formally adopted the goal set by Governor...
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NY Creates New Emissions Credit for Nuclear Plants
By McDermott Will & Emery on Sep 20, 2016
Posted In Environmental, Renewables
The New York Public Service Commission’s (PSC) Clean Energy Standard (CES), adopted in August, includes a new emissions credit—the ZEC. The ZEC, or zero-emissions credit, is the first emissions credit created exclusively for nuclear power. The ZEC is the result of a highly politicized effort to support New York’s struggling nuclear power plants. New York’s...
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CaliforniaFirst PACE Program Finances Clean Energy Projects for Commercial Property
By McDermott Will & Emery and Joel A. Hugenberger on Sep 19, 2016
Posted In Power Markets, Project Development and Finance, Renewables
Property assessed clean energy (PACE) programs are an innovative mechanism for financing energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements on private property. They also present a number of challenges to investors—for one, the variance between different programs (even within a particular state) and an understanding as to how particular programs work remains an impediment to investors...
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Massachusetts Legislation Spurs Offshore Wind Power Development
By McDermott Will & Emery on Aug 24, 2016
Posted In Power Markets, Renewables
On August 8, 2016, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a major energy bill aimed at putting Massachusetts at the forefront of states developing offshore wind power. The law, An Act Relative to Energy Diversity (H. 4568), requires Massachusetts electricity distribution companies to procure 1,600 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy by June 30,...
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Transmission Planning and Construction Right of First Refusal Ruled Unduly Discriminatory, Not Mobile-Sierra Protected
By McDermott Will & Emery on Jul 5, 2016
Posted In FERC, Natural Gas, Power Markets
The provision contained in incumbent electric utility tariffs—conferring on the holder the right of first refusal (ROFR) to construct additions to the high-voltage electrical grid, regardless of who conceived of and proposed the addition—is unduly discriminatory, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held in a July 1 decision in Oklahoma Gas...
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Energy Tax Extenders in FAA Bill Unlikely
By McDermott Will & Emery, Heather Cooper, Kevin Spencer and Philip Tingle on Jun 30, 2016
Posted In Environmental, Project Development and Finance, Renewables, Tax, U.S. Congress
As discussed in our post on April 7, US Congress extended the Production Tax Credit (PTC) under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 45 and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) under IRC Section 48 in December 2015, but failed to include extensions for certain types of renewable energy property, including fuel cell power plants, stationary microturbine power...
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