New Legislation for 2011 Impacting Renewable Energy

Congress passed groundbreaking new legislation that extended numerous provisions that will substantially impact the businesses that invest in renewable energy. The proposed legislation indicates a continued desire to invest within the renewable energy industry and assist businesses that choose to help our environment by implementing clean energy in their business processes.

The new legislation includes the following key tax relief programs for renewable energy:

• Section 1603 Cash In Lieu of Tax Credits - The cash in lieu of tax credits program, established under Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, has been extended for another year. This program allows for up to a 30% cash grant for qualifying renewable energy projects that are placed in service before December 31, 2011.
  • Numerous variations on the extension had been proposed, with Congress settling on perhaps the simplest and most straightforward method of all - simply extending the program expiration date from December 31, 2010 to December 31, 2011.
  • As of now, since the only change was to add "2011" to the program expiration, all other requirements and characteristics of the 1603 program remain the same, including:
    • The due date for the application to the Treasury- October 11, 2011
    • Project in-service dates
    • Beginning of construction requirements (effective now for December 31, 2011 rather than December 31, 2010)