Useful Links
Below are useful links for those contemplating tax-advantaged
transactions in the renewable energy and/or New Market Tax Credit
fields.
Renewable Energy Related Links
AWEA – American Wind Energy Association.
BPA Balancing Authority Load - This Bonneville Power webpage is a realtime graphic of the total BPA load compared to total wind generation and demonstrates the variability of wind and its relative portion of total power generated on a real time basis.
DSIRE – this is a website summarizing various incentive programs by state.
DOE Biomass programs - http://www1.eere.energy.gov/biomass/
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filings - These can be searched here.
Geothermal Energy Association - http://www.geo-energy.org
Montana Alberta Tie Ltd - 230kV merchant transmission line project linking Canada and the United States. Mr. Roeder was a founding officer and of this entity and authored the initial draft of the Open Access Transmission Tariff.
PV Watts – Solar energy calculator by geographic location.
IRS Notice 2009-52 - This link is to the PDF version of Notice 2009-52 which provides the IRS procedures for electing a grant in lieu of tax credits for PTC and certain ITC eligible property.
The Department of Energy and the U.S. Treasury have posted the following information about the grant in lieu of the Section 45 and 48 Tax Credit as follows:
1603 Grant in Lieu Sample Accountant Report
Treasury's FAQs Regarding 1603
IRS Revenue Procedure 2007-65 - This link is to the PDF version of Rev Proc 2007-65 which initially (it was clarified/changed with Announcement 2009-69 below) laid out the "safe harbor" requirements for a wind project flip structure. In theory, if one structures their flip transaction in accordance with this Notice, it will go unchallenged by the IRS. This has become the defacto flip structure for other IRC Section 45 projects, e.g. geothermal and biomass.
IRS Announcement 2009-69 - This is the link to the PDF version of Announcement 2009-69 which announced changes to Rev Proc 2007-65, above. Key changes were easing of the restrictions on fixed price purchase options, and clarification of the use of IRC Section 45 tax credits against all passive losses.
New Market Tax Credit Related Links
CDFI – Community Development Financial Institutions Fund is the arm of the U.S. Treasury that administers the NMTC program.
Novogradac & Company – Novogradac is a leading CPA firm providing services to the NMTC industry. They provide several useful conferences throughout the year and are nationally recognized tax credit experts. A good overview of the NMTC program is provided by Novogradac via YouTube here.
Rural Poverty Research Institute – For community developers desiring to better understand rural poverty, this website has useful research papers and analysis.
Interesting Links
We happened upon this YouTube 8 part video from Professor Albert Bartlett of the University of Colorado entitled Arithmetic, Population and Energy. It is something that really gets a person thinking about sustainability, American values, our environment, and our responsibility as Americans to the rest of the planet. Each segment is about 9 or 10 minutes so you need about an hour and a half to watch it all. This is very educational. The best information is covered in the middle videos - peak oil, coal reserves, food from fuels, etc.
Also interesting is this link to a presentation on illegal naked shorting. Warning - After you watch this you won't ever want to invest in a prerevenue publicly traded company. The shorts can simply sell counterfiet shares until they drive the company into bankruptcy. See how in the presentation entitled Dark Side of the Looking Glass. Again, you will need about an hour to watch the presentation all the way to the end. There are optional additional segments you can watch after the main one. All of them are interesting and take another 20 minutes or so.
One more interesting piece regarding short selling is this paper on the impact it has on coporate governance. Due to systemic recordkeeping deficiencies, more shares vote than exist.
My son sent me a Business Week article that in turn had a link to USA, Inc., a look at the country of the United States of America as if it were a corporation. It is interesting reading, too.