Project Finance NewsWire

May 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

The emerging African market
A draft tax-cut bill released Thursday by the chairman of the House tax-writing committee is a mixed bag for the power industry and infrastructure trade.

US Infrastructure Outlook
The US public-private partnership market continues to diversify, and P3 deal structures continue to mature...

Turkish Solar Power: Better Late Than Never
Turkey has finally set the ball rolling on solar development, almost one year after the first license applications were received from developers. A new round of solar tenders is expected...

Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin LNG Regime
After much waiting, the government of Mozambique has taken a huge step toward monetizing its much-publicized gas reserves by publishing the eagerly-anticipated legal framework for the development ...

Environmental update
The US Environmental Protection Agency announced earlier this year that it would delay finalizing both its rule to control carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants...


IN OTHER NEWS

Inverted Leases
Inverted leases are a structure used to raise tax equity for renewable energy projects. The structure is used mainly in the solar rooftop market.

Production Tax Credits
Production tax credits for wind and geothermal projects remain at 2.3¢ a kilowatt hour in 2015, but moved up slightly from 1.1 to 1 ...

The Treasury
The Treasury has now won one and lost one lawsuit against it for shortfalls in Treasury cash grants. The next trial is scheduled for May 23, and another 23 cases are in line behind it...

Output from Wind Farms
Output for wind farms in the western US during the first quarter 2015 was off by as much as 50% from forecasts, possibly due to a warmer-than-average winter, according to a report in North Americ...

Offshore Wind Farms
Offshore wind farms are used in the United States for tax purposes if the electricity is used in the United States, the IRS said in a private letter ruling...

Solar Rooftop Customers
Solar rooftop customers are choosing in large numbers to make direct purchases of solar systems rather than sign long-term leases or power contracts...

Mexico
Mexico reduced its short-term target for renewable energy to 5% by 2018, down from the 8.2% that it proposed in a draft plan in early March.

CFIUS
CFIUS reported to Congress in February that foreign companies submitted 97 proposed acquisitions of US companies to it for review in 2013.

Master Limited Partnership
Master limited partnership rulings resume. The IRS lifted a hold in March on private letter rulings to companies that want to organize as master limited partnerships...

Refundable State Tax Credits
Refundable state tax credits must be reported as income if they exceed taxes actually paid, even if a company foregoes a refund and carries them forward...

A Tax Equity Investor
A tax equity investor who made capital contributions to a partnership in exchange for being allocated state tax credits bought the tax credits, and the sponsor had to report the capital contributi...

Liabilities Assumed by a Purchaser
Liabilities assumed by the purchaser of three nuclear power plants to decommission the plants cannot be added to the cost basis in the plants, a US appeals court confirmed...

Transferee Liability
Transferee liability can make the selling shareholders of a company liable for taxes the company should have paid, but that the new owners failed to have it pay...

Minor memos
The IRS has only 650 employees born in 1990 or later out of a total work force of 87,000....