Renewable Energy

Subscribe to Renewable Energy
Washington DC Capitol detail on cloudy sky

An increased borrowing limit for the U.S. was not the only change brought about by the recently enacted Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process was also on the minds of our legislators. Indeed, Congress chose to use the debt ceiling fight as a vehicle for implementing several changes to NEPA aimed at improving project authorization and management and establishing timelines for completing the review process. While not all the changes in the so-called Builder Act are dramatic, a handful of them could provide additional certainty for those in the oil and gas and renewables industries seeking federal approval for their projects.…

Law, notary, attorney background theme

The renewable energy industry is growing rapidly but it faces several challenges, including ever-increasing competition amongst developers for rights to the same land. This creates a race between developers to encumber project land.

Negotiating and executing a lease is normally more time-consuming than recording it, but recording the lease agreement (or other applicable real estate instrument) is not a step that should be overlooked or delayed. A lease is effectively meaningless to anyone not a party to it until it has been recorded in the public records of the county in which the leased property is located. Once the lease, or evidence of the lease, has been recorded, everyone not a party to it is put on notice and any agreement encumbering the leased land after that date is typically subordinate to the lease.…

On May 12, 2023, in Notice 2023-38 (the “Notice”), the IRS published rules intended for inclusion in forthcoming regulations regarding domestic content bonus credit amounts.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 amended §§ 45 and 48 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) to provide a domestic content bonus credit amount for certain qualified facilities or energy projects placed in service after December 31, 2022, and added new Code §§ 45Y and 48E, which include a domestic content bonus credit amount for certain investments in qualified facilities or energy storage technologies placed in service after December 31, 2023.

To claim a domestic content bonus credit amount, a taxpayer must establish that the “Domestic Content Requirement” is satisfied with respect to an “Applicable Project” by certifying to the Secretary of the Treasury that any steel, iron, or manufactured product which is a component of the Applicable Project (upon completion of construction) was produced in the United States. The Notice provides guidance on what is required to meet the Domestic Content Requirement and the procedures for reporting and claiming domestic content bonus credit amounts.…

Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which went into effect in January, it can pay to be a brownfield – a term used to refer to a property that is affected by potential or confirmed contamination. Specifically, the IRA offers incentives to renewable energy development that takes place on a brownfield site, which is included as an “energy community” under the IRA. On April 4, 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Treasury published limited guidance (Notice 2023-29, Energy Community Bonus Credit Amounts under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022) on the bonuses available for production and investment of energy facilities in energy communities. Unfortunately, even with the guidance, the eligibility of certain sites as brownfields remains uncertain.…

The siting of renewable energy infrastructure remains a contentious issue in some communities. Throughout the United States — both on the coasts and in the Midwest — new renewable energy development pits unlikely advocates against unlikely opposition. That said, more and more State governments that are looking to grow their renewable energy industries and meet climate goals are implementing legislative solutions to these renewable energy siting issues.…

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) builds upon recent incentives for investment in hydrogen by encouraging producers and end users of clean hydrogen to continue developing clean hydrogen infrastructure. This article provides an overview of the incentives and how they may be accessed.…

On November 3, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued three notices (“November 3 Notices”) requesting public input on the climate and clean energy incentives contained in the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”). The November 3 Notices request comments by December 2, 2022, on the amendments, extensions, and enhancements of the IRA’s energy tax benefits. The November 3 Notices follow an initial set of six notices that were issued by the IRS on October 5, 2022 to seek public input on other aspects of the energy tax incentives contained in the IRA.…

In Texas, title insurance forms are promulgated by the Texas Department of Insurance (the “TDI”), with policy types, premium amounts, and the issuance of endorsements being regulated by standardized procedural and rate rules. Thus, title deliverables required for debt and equity financing transactions tend to be generally uniform in Texas renewable energy transactions.…

Perspective line of ocean wind mills with dark water and sky

In the wake of increasing inflation and as a means of codifying several of the Biden administration’s legislative priorities, the Senate passed the $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act on August 7, 2022 (the “Act”), by a 51-50 party-line vote. The Act, which is comprised of sweeping healthcare, energy, and tax measures, was approved by the House of Representatives on August 12, 2022, and signed into law by President Biden on August 16, 2022, creating a significant number of renewable energy sector benefits.…

In order to keep pace with the federal government’s ambitious goal of permitting the production of at least twenty-five (25) gigawatts of renewable energy through projects placed on public land by 2025, the Department of the Interior (the “DOI”) recently announced several policy changes to ensure developing renewable projects on public land is attractive and affordable for third-party developers and investors.…