QUICK NEWS, May 13: THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF NEW ENERGY INCENTIVES; AG DEPT FUNDS RURAL GRID SMARTS; WAVE ENERGY HITS COST OBSTACLE

THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF NEW ENERGY INCENTIVES New LBNL Report: An Analysis of the Costs, Benefits, and Implications of Different Approaches to Capturing the Value of Renewable Energy Tax Incentives

May 12, 2014 (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

“In the United States, incentives for the deployment of utility-scale wind and solar power projects are delivered primarily through the tax code, in the form of accelerated tax depreciation and tax credits that are based on either investment or production…[P]roject sponsors, said to have ‘tax appetite,’ are able to efficiently (i.e., in the [five] years in which they are generated) apply any excess deductions and credits against other sources of taxable income…This is the best possible outcome for the sponsor. Other project sponsors that lack tax appetite may carry forward excess tax benefits…but this strategy sacrifices some of the incentives’ value, due to the time value of money. A third option is to bring in – at a cost – a third-party ‘tax equity’ investor who is able to efficiently use the project’s tax benefits, and who invests in the project in exchange for being allocated most or all of its tax benefits; this is known as ‘monetizing’ the tax benefits…This report analyzes and compares the relative costs, benefits, and implications of capturing the value of renewable energy tax benefits in these three different ways…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet

AG DEPT FUNDS RURAL GRID SMARTS USDA Awards $540M For Electric System Upgrades, Including $35M For Smart Grid

May 7, 2014 (Renew Grid)

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced $540 million in funding for projects in 18 states to help improve electric service to business and residential consumers in rural areas…through the department's rural utilities program and include more than $35 million for smart grid projects to upgrade rural electric system communications technology…Southwest Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. will receive…$5.4 million in smart grid technologies. Missouri-based Three Rivers Electric Cooperative…[will get] $4.6 million for smart grid projects…Georgia-based Canoochee Electric Membership Corp. has been awarded…$2.4 million] for smart grid initiatives…South Carolina-based Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative Inc. picked up…$5.9 million for smart grid technologies…[Here is the list of recipients]…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet

WAVE ENERGY HITS COST OBSTACLE Experimental Efforts to Harvest the Ocean’s Power Face Cost Setbacks

Joshua Hunt and Diane Cardwell, April 27, 2014 (NY Times)

“…Ocean Power Technologies quietly abandoned a pilot project off Oregon’s coast] this month without ever deploying its machine…Despite receiving at least $8.7 million in federal and state grants, Ocean Power told regulators that it could not raise enough money to cover higher-than-expected costs and would instead pursue a similar project in Australia, backed by a $62 million commitment from that country’s government…The shuttering of the ambitious project — which, as the nation’s first grid-connected commercial-scale wave park, was to have 10 buoys supplying power to about 1,000 homes — is the latest setback for the nascent wave energy sector in the United States, which remains in the experimental stage…Tidal power, which captures energy from currents moving in onedirection at a time, as opposed to the wave-based technology of the Ocean Power buoys, is farther along…[because] tidal power is easier to engineer and has been able to adapt expertise from the conventional hydroelectric industry… [E]lectricity generation from the ocean’s waves is more complex, and only a few projects are in the planning stages, despite the vast potential…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet