Renewable energy is back on the docket for the Senate Finance Committee, and Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is likely to release the draft of his bill as early as this week. The Committee is considering a two-year extender for tax incentives for new wind, geothermal, biomass, landfill gas and ocean energy projects during a markup. Also being considered is the extension of second generation biofuel producer tax incentives for production of biodiesel and renewable diesel. The extenders package covers 52 items concerning a wide range of industries in addition to renewable energy, including mortgage lenders, education, and retail and restaurant improvements. The 30% investment tax credit for solar and fuel cell projects is not expected to be on the table. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) urges the solar community to advocate the investment tax credit, which is set to step-down in 2016 without an extension.

Topics: Biofuels, Biomass, Energy Policy, Structured Transactions & Tax, Energy Finance, Distributed Energy, Renewable Energy, Wind

Topics: Utilities, Energy Policy, Structured Transactions & Tax, Energy Storage, Energy Efficiency, Microgrid, Energy Finance, Distributed Energy, Energy Management, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy, Public/Private Partnership, Wind

In Sullivan & Worcester’s most recent quarterly newsletter, the EDGE Advisory, we address one of the major advancements in distributed energy clean-tech, the microgrid. This year has seen major headway in the deployment of hybrid distributed energy resources and microgrids, along with accompanying innovation in financing for these solutions. Several leading players in solar, battery storage and advanced power management automation have announced major investments in new microgrid adaptable technologies.

Topics: Energy Security, Power Generation, Microgrid, Energy Finance, Distributed Energy, Energy Management, Renewable Energy

In an era which often seems to be defined by partisanship, renewable energy has recently shown that it is one issue that can defy party lines.

Topics: Carbon Emissions, Energy Policy, Distributed Energy, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

While the solar market has been exploding over the past few years, the small commercial segment of the market, made up of locations like apartment buildings, office buildings, small businesses, factories, warehouses, and hospitals, has been extraordinarily slow to develop. Residential installations, built on standardized transactions and easy access to financing because projects can be pooled based on homeowner credit scores, is red hot as large investors with cheap capital are attracted to homogenous amassed projects and the perception of well-understood credit risk. The utility scale solar market also continues to grow (despite fewer available long-term power purchase agreements) on the strength of declining costs and abundant liquidity in the form of very low cost capital driven significantly by yieldcos.

Topics: Energy Efficiency, Energy Finance, Distributed Energy, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

With states adopting programs to encourage energy users to install combined heating and power (CHP) systems, building owners and asset managers are asking themselves the bottom line question - how can CHP increase my operating income and asset value?

Topics: Energy Security, Energy Efficiency, Energy Finance, Distributed Energy, Energy Management

Energy management is one of the most important parts of our changing energy landscape. It is a market made up of part energy efficiency, part Big Data solution and part Internet of Things. Energy management will be a multi-trillion dollar industry that will reverberate across industrialized economies. The competitive advantage in virtually every economic sector will be redefined by companies’ ability to manage volatile energy prices. It will change how we consume energy. Significant reductions in energy use are an obvious outcome (with corresponding pressure on energy companies), but even more exciting are the social and economic benefits of being able to preform significantly more work with our existing energy resources.

Topics: Energy Security, Energy Efficiency, Distributed Energy, Energy Management

Topics: Energy Storage, Distributed Energy, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy

Driven by rapid expansion in developing countries, renewables are becoming a significant source of the world’s power. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme’s (UNEP) 9th “Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2015,” investment in developing countries was up 36% in 2014, totaling $131.3 billion. China ($83.3 billion), Brazil ($7.6 billion), India ($7.4 billion) and South Africa ($5.5 billion) were all in the top 10 of investing countries while more than $1 billion was invested in Indonesia, Chile, Mexico, Kenya and Turkey. As renewables continue to expand into developing nations, it is incumbent upon developers to understand the risk features of some of these environments.

Topics: Energy Policy, Energy Finance, Distributed Energy, Renewable Energy, Public/Private Partnership

Sunny, tropical Puerto Rico may finally have a break through in solar development and investment. Although the island represents a solar opportunity today, renewable generation only represented 1% of the Caribbean territory’s energy mix in 2012, despite high electricity prices and renewable friendly policies. The reason for the lack of solar development is likely due to poor investor confidence in the local utility as offtaker.

Topics: Utilities, Energy Policy, Energy Finance, Distributed Energy, Solar Energy, Renewable Energy