By Brian Seaman
The Treasury § 1603 program was authorized in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and supported $38.6B of investment in renewable power development, and 16.9 GW of new installed renewable energy . But with the 2011 expiration of the program – and the associated grants of up to 30% of qualifying project costs – developers, investors, and environmentalists are looking to the federal government to make minor, common-sense changes to current tax code to accelerate private investment in the renewable energy industry. The most promising changes which have been proposed would affect existing investment vehicles like Master Limited Partnerships and Real Estate Investment Trusts.
