IN THIS ISSUE

The Risks of Rushing into Iran

The risks of rushing into investing in Iran, for Americans and non-Americans alike, are significant and underreported...

More US Loan Guarantees for Distributed Generation

Another $1 billion in federal loan guarantees will be made available for distributed energy projects, such as micro-grids and rooftop solar with batteries, President Obama said in a speech at a Cl...

Solar Tax Equity Structures

Solar companies use three main structures to raise tax equity to finance projects...

Clean Power Plan Provides Boost for Renewables

Wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower appear to be winners under the final Clean Power Plan that the US Environmental Protection Agency released in early August to reduce US carbon dioxide emissi...

The Coal Industry: Emerging Issues in Bankruptcy Cases

The US coal industry is being forced by competition from natural gas and renewable energy to “right size.” At least part of the right sizing will be done through the bankruptcy process...

Lessons from US Offshore Wind Projects to Date

A number of lessons emerge from the offshore wind projects that have been attempted to date in the United States...

Developing a New Nuclear Project in Europe

There are 131 nuclear power reactors with a combined capacity of around 122,000 megawatts currently operating in 14 European Union member states and managed by 18 utilities...

Power in East Africa: Continuing Progress

The alignment of commercial interests between the United States and East African countries has produced a number of bankable projects in the region, but certain challenges will need to be overcome...

CO2 Diligence

Chadbourne held a webinar in late August on “What to Ask on Diligence in the Wake of the Clean Power Plan...

Environmental update

A federal district court has dealt a setback to a United States Fish and Wildlife Service program for issuing long-term permits to wind farms and others allowing “incidental takes” of bald and golden eagles.

IN OTHER NEWS

Tax Extenders

Tax extenders are expected to move sometime between October and December. The Senate tax-writing committee voted in July to extend more than 50 expiring tax benefits by two years...

Some Energy Tax Credit Issues

Some energy tax credit issues may be revisited by the Internal Revenue Service...

An Unusually Large Number

An unusually large number of issues of interest to the project finance community are on the latest business plan the IRS released at the end of July...

REITs

REITs take center stage in two plans to emerge from bankruptcy...

Kenya

Kenya appears to have decided to waive withholding taxes on payments to foreign companies that enter into power contracts to supply electricity...

Some US States

Some US states are drawing up lists of tax havens. A new Oregon statute that the governor signed in late July added more countries to a list of tax havens that the state has maintained since 2013...

Oregon

Oregon is considering whether to claw back profits that some buyers of state tax credits made by buying credits at a reduced price.

Renewable Portfolio Standards

Renewable portfolio standards survived a court challenge...

Transfers of Appreciated Property to Partnerships

Transfers of appreciated property to partnerships get IRS attention...

A Parent Company

A parent company paying expenses of a subsidiary cannot deduct them, the IRS said...

Partnership Payments

Partnership payments to partners are sometimes disguised payments for services and should be reported by the partner as income...

Improvements Versus Repairs at Power Plants

Improvements versus repairs at power plants remain an area with heavy IRS audit activity. The IRS issued an internal directive on July 6 in an effort to reduce the number of disputes...

US Tax Return

US tax return filing deadlines for partnerships and C corporations were changed by Congress in late July under a bill to extend funding for the highway trust fund...

Michigan

Michigan electric and gas utilities will have to pay sales and use taxes on some of their new equipment, the state Supreme Court said. The sales and use tax rate in Michigan is 6%...

Minor memos

Output from US wind farms fell 6% in the first half of 2015 compared to the same period the year before, despite a 9% increase in generating capacity, according to the US Energy Information Administration...