Clean Renewable Energy Bonds

History

  • Tax credit bonds, can be issued by a variety of governmental borrowers to finance public or private alternative electric-generation facilities
  • Benefit to borrower is 70% interest rate subsidy
  • Maturity and tax credit rates set daily by Treasury (see www.treasurydirect.gov)
  • First authorized in 2006
  • Current $800 million national allocation awarded by Treasury

ARRA Provisions

  • USallocation increased to $2.4 billion
  • Treasury to make allocations of cap via applications from eligible issuers
  • No more than one third to qualified projects owned by public power providers, governmental bodies, and cooperative electric companies, respectively
  • Davis-Bacon wage rates apply

New Clean Renewable Energy “Bond”

An issuance, in whole or in part:

  • where 100% of available project proceeds used for capital expenditures incurred by qualified owners (incl. governmental entities, public power providers, cooperative electric companies) for one or more qualified renewable energy facilities;
  • issued by qualified issuer; and
  • the issuer designates the bond as a CREB

Qualified Issuers

  • Public power provider (a State utility with a service obligation, as defined by the Federal Power Act)
  • Cooperative electric company
  • Governmental entity (a State or political subdivision thereof)
  • CREB lender (a lender that is a cooperative that is owned by, or has outstanding loans to, 100 or more cooperative electric companies, was in existence on February 1, 2002 and any affiliated entity controlled by such lender)
  • Not-for-profit electric utility that has received a loan or loan guarantee under the Rural Electrification Act

Qualified Energy Facility

Any facility, owned by public power provider, a governmental entity, or a cooperative electric company for alternative electric generation through:

  • wind
  • closed-loop or open-loop biomass
  • geothermal or solar
  • small irrigation
  • hydropower
  • landfill gas
  • marine and hydrokinetic renewable, and
  • trash combustion

Contacts
www.irs.gov/taxexemptbond
Kristofor Anderson [email protected]