NEW YORK—There are signs that the federal stimulus might be pumping a little life into the alternative-energy industry.

Financiers and law firms specializing in renewable energy say they see growing interest in reviving moribund projects and breaking ground on new deals. And while big banks that have braced the industry's backbone are still on the fence, some hedge funds and private equity and venture capital firms are cautiously looking to take advantage of stimulus provisions that temporarily eliminate the need for tax equity financing, which has long been a mainstay for renewable energy projects.

"Whether it's the stimulus package or the return of the banks, there is early evidence of a growing appetite for the types of small- to medium-size projects that they sponsor," said Tucker Twitmyer, managing partner at the venture capital firm EnerTech Capital.

The stock markets are still no place to raise cash, but if activity from many nontraditional sources of financing lifts the clean-tech sector faster, as many experts predict, that may encourage banks to ease their strict lending requirements and again lift renewable energy finance if credit markets start to normalize.

"I'd say it's a little bit like March in your garden," said John Gulliver, a specialist in renewable energy financing at the law firm Pierce Atwood. "There are some shoots of green coming up out of the frozen ground in the snow, but they're not ready to harvest yet."

There is some dispute among insiders as to which sectors are seeing the most benefits. Some are confident that solar energy companies are enjoying a big lift from the stimulus, while others observe signs that wind power is seeing more gains. Most assume that energy efficiency provisions in the law will see home and building weatherization fill up much of the activity, but analysts see opportunities for photovoltaic companies here, too.

But what is clear is that parts of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act that replace the need for tax credits are giving the industry its biggest boost.

Prior to the financial crash felt in the second half of 2008, most alternative energy projects owed their life to federal investment tax credits and production tax credits that allowed banks backing projects to offset tax liabilities against their investments in wind farms and solar plants.

The structure worked as long as the banks pulled profits, but with most financial institutions expected to post steep losses for 2009, tax credit finance has become all but obsolete.

According to figures from the private equity firm Hudson Clean Energy Partners, about 25 of the largest financial firms were active in tax equity financing for alternatives in 2007, the year most analysts see as the historic height of the clean-tech market.

At least 16 of those firms left the field last year, including the permanent departures of Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, Merrill Lynch and American International Group (AIG). For 2009, Hudson Clean Energy counts six bank investors, although 12 could return if the tough financial climate stabilizes.

Congress getting credit

Signs of life in clean-tech are mostly due to Congress allowing companies to opt for Treasury grants in lieu of investment tax credits, experts say.

Biomass, geothermal, solar and wind power project developers can now elect to use the investment tax credit to get a federal rebate for the amount of the tax equity money that would have backed their projects.

The advantage, Hudson Clean Energy managing partner Neil Auerbach says, is that the new structure is much simpler and more affordable than the old periodic tax credit schemes favored by Congress in the past. The Treasury grants significantly lower the cost of financing, an important component given the high cost of capital in today's economy.

1 Comments

1. 1. xjyxjy 02:40 PM 3/23/09

   As long as capital (and capitalism) can't conserve its profits (a huge unproductive tax on a nation's collective creation of wealth) there's no way anyone can expect it to conserve anything else, let alone the planet.
   
   The tax on a nation's productive power represented by private profits (and by now we all know where this money goes), is only outdone in obscenity by the monopoly gouging that is ground rent. Remove these two dead weights on resource use and world scientific, technological and philosophical progress, and you make the world a better and safer and more stimulating place to live in.

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