Clean Renewable Energy Bond

Clean Renewable Energy Bond

April 04, 2007 | By Keith Martin in Washington, DC

CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY BOND applications must be received by the IRS by July 13 this year, the agency said. The bonds are bonds that municipal utilities, electric cooperatives and Indian tribes can issue to finance power plants that generate electricity from wind, sunlight, geothermal energy, biomass, landfill gas, municipal solid waste and some other fuels. The bonds do not require payment of any interest.The lender gets tax credits instead from the federal government. The IRS allocated $800 million in bond authority in November. There were 709 applications.The largest single allocation to a wind farm was $31 million. Most of the money was allocated for small solar projects. Congress authorized another $400 million in bond authority last December for allocation this year. Like last year, the IRS will allocate the bonds among applicants starting with the applicant asking for the smallest amount of bond authority and working up the list. However, unlike last year, it will ask applicants to consent to disclosure of their names if they are awarded bonds. The IRS refused last year to disclose the awards, arguing that the information is taxpayer data that it is required by law to keep private.