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How important is it that an additional criteria for ILUC is added to the EU sustainability schemes?
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Tank Storage Canada expo & conference
September 28 - 29
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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2101 Ethanol Conference & Trade Show
August 02 - 04
Missouri, US |
American Coalition for Ethanol Convention
August 03 - 05
Missouri, US |
NISTM Missouri State Storage Tank Conference
August 19
Missouri, US |
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Volume 3, Issue 2
Feature: Renewable energy aspects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act |
On 17 February 2009 President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion (€562 billion) economic stimulus package that contains numerous tax provisions related to biomass and other renewable energy projects. These provisions present significant new opportunities for developers and investors in biomass projects, but also present new challenges to be resolved over the coming months and years. Perhaps the most significant biomass-related provision in the act is the extension of the production tax credit (PTC), which was previously set to expire at the end of 2010. The act extends the ‘placed-in-service’ sunset date for both open-loop and closed-loop biomass electricity generation projects to 2013. To qualify for the PTC under the act, a biomass project must be placed in service on or before 31 December 2013. This extension removes a significant portion of the uncertainty previously faced by developers and investors in biomass projects with long-term development and construction requirements. The act did not change the basic operation or calculation of the PTC for open-loop or closed-loop biomass projects. Therefore any qualifying closed-loop biomass project that meets the placed-inservice requirement will qualify for a credit of $0.15 (indexed for inflation) per kilowatt hour of electricity generated and sold to an unrelated person during each year of the 10-year period beginning on the date the project is originally placed in service. Any qualifying openloop biomass project that meets the placed-in-service requirement will qualify for a credit equal to one-half of the credit allowable for a closedloop biomass project for the same 10-year period. For 2008, the inflation-indexed credit per kilowatt hour was $0.021 ($0.01 for electricity produced from open-loop biomass). The inflationindexed rate for 2009 has not yet been released. The act also allows the owner of a qualified biomass facility to elect to claim an investment-based tax credit (ITC) in lieu of the PTC. This election applies to open-loop and closed-loop facilities that are placed in service from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013.
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