Project Finance NewsWire

July 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

Mexico: Prepare to Launch
Is it still hurry up and wait or is the race to build new power projects finally underway in Mexico? New power market rules are expected in final form soon...

New Financing Trends
The market is awash in liquidity. Banks are moving up the risk curve in the chase for deals. Bank deal volume was down in the first half of 2015, but is expected to pick up...

New Trends: Developer Perspective
Developer optimism about the renewable energy market is on the upswing. A lot more money is chasing renewable energy today than two years ago...

Rooftop Solar Outside the US
There is enormous potential for rooftop solar outside the United States in markets with high insolation levels or favorable governmental policies...

Analyzing Solar Rooftop Portfolios
Investors in rooftop solar companies and portfolios, and lenders to the sector, are using big data to draw useful insights and improve their valuation techniques, creating an opportunity for thoug...

Corporate PPAs
How much potential is there to bypass utilities and deal with their large customers or traders directly? A panel discussed this question at the Chadbourne global energy & finance conference in June.

The Partnership Flip Guidelines and Solar
The Internal Revenue Service said in an internal memo made public in June that its guidelines for tax equity partnership flip transactions do not apply to solar facilities or other projects on whi...

Energy Storage Economics
The storage business is about to take off. A total of 363 megawatts of storage projects were announced in 2014. Investment in storage is expected to be running at $5 billion a year by 2020...

Line Drawing for MLPs
The Internal Revenue Service made clearer in May where it plans to draw the line on the types of minerals and natural resources businesses that may operate as master limited partnerships or MLPs...

China Launched Multilateral Infrastructure Bank
China is moving to form a New Silk Road Fund and an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that will finance power and other infrastructure projects along six corridors in Asia, the Middle East and ...

Seeking Investments
Investment managers at three private equity funds talked at the Chadbourne global energy & finance conference in June about where they see the best opportunities currently in the market...

Environmental update
The US Supreme Court sent Environmental Protection Agency rules requiring power plants to reduce mercury and other toxic air emissions back to a lower court for reconsideration.


IN OTHER NEWS

A Tax Extenders Bill
A TAX EXTENDERS BILL may start to move through the US Congress this month. Wind companies are looking for more time to start construction of new projects to qualify for production tax credits...

Community Solar
COMMUNITY SOLAR projects in Minnesota will be smaller than most developers want under a settlement worked out between Xcel and a small group of community solar advocates and approved by the Minnes...

Several Tax Policy Issues
SEVERAL TAX POLICY ISSUES of interest to the infrastructure trade may be in play in the next IRS business plan...

An MLP Overpaid
An MLP overpaid for an interest in an LNG terminal. The Delaware Chancery Court said a master limited partnership called El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P...

Exchanging IDRs in an MLP
EXCHANGING IDRS IN AN MLP for common units did not trigger income taxes, the IRS said. The key was the parties structured the exchange so that there was no capital shift among the partners...

North Carolina
NORTH CAROLINA extended a deadline for completing renewable energy projects to qualify for a 35% state tax credit.

Reflective Roof
REFLECTIVE ROOF surfaces installed to reflect sunlight to the underside of bifacial solar panels qualify for a federal investment tax credit, but the tax credit can be claimed only on the incremen...

Waste Heat and Clean Coal
WASTE HEAT AND CLEAN COAL projects would benefit from two tax bills that cleared the Senate tax-writing committee and are awaiting action by the full Senate...

Nebraska
NEBRASKA expanded a nameplate capacity tax on wind farms to apply to solar, biomass and landfill gas projects of 100 kilowatts or more in size in early June...

Minor memos
Martin Meyers, director of research at Photon Consulting, said on a UBS conference call in May that he expects US solar module prices in the US to fall to 70¢ a watt in 2015 and to 51¢ a watt by 2019...