A number of the largest renewable energy players in the
United States have joined forces to lobby for tax changes to level the playing
field for clean energy development.
Founding members of the coalition include First Wind,
Vestas, Gamesa, OWN Energy, Everpower, Invenergy, Geronimo, Pattern Energy,
juwi, Keybanc Utility, Power and Renewables, Terra-Gen Power and TradeWind
Energy.
The group, called Financing America’s Investment in
Renewables (FAIR), supports a change in a law that currently allows oil, gas,
coal and other natural resources-based energy projects, but not renewable
energy projects, to use master limited partnerships (MLPs), a business
structure that facilitates investment in qualifying projects.
Such a change has been proposed in the bi-partisan Master
Limited Partnerships (MLP) Parity Act recently re-introduced in both the US
House and Senate.
An MLP is a business structure that is taxed as a
partnership, but whose ownership interests are traded on an exchange like
corporate stocks. This provides the state and federal tax benefits of a
partnership with the liquidity of a publicly traded company.
Renewable energy assets are not currently eligible to use
the MLP structure.
The MLP Parity Act was introduced jointly by Democrat
Senator Chris Coons and Republican Congressman Ted Poe. It has been assigned to
a Congressional committee that will decide whether to send it on to the House
or Senate.
“The lower the cost of building renewable energy projects,
the less consumers will have to pay for clean American energy, so that’s why we
are urging Congress to level the playing field to give all sources of domestic
energy – renewable and non-renewable alike – access to the use of MLPs,” said
First Wind CEO Paul Gaynor.
Added OWN Energy CFO Ray Henger: “If enacted, the MLP Parity
Act would translate into jobs, new sources of revenue for towns and
communities, and new sources of clean energy at a competitive price for
consumers.”
No comments:
Post a Comment