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By McDermott Will & Emery on Jul 14, 2015
Posted In Project Development and Finance, Renewables, Tax
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has advised that the flip partnership guidelines under Rev. Proc. 2007-65, 2007-2 C.B. 967, do not apply to solar facilities or other projects claiming the Section 48 investment tax credit (ITC). The statement, made in in recently released CCA 201524024, was not surprising to practitioners in the solar arena as...
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Oil and Gas in Egypt
By McDermott Will & Emery and Andrew Watson on Jun 15, 2015
Posted In Natural Gas, Power Markets
Egypt has suffered from significant social and political unrest. This resulted in a drop in oil and gas production levels at the same time as domestic energy consumption was rising. Egypt was facing a serious energy crisis. The election of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as president in June 2014 proved to be a turning point: There...
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Italy withdraws from the Energy Charter Treaty
By McDermott Will & Emery on Apr 21, 2015
Posted In EU Developments, Renewables
Italy is reported to have given formal notice to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). Rumours of Italy’s intention to leave the ECT had been circulating since last autumn. IAReporter now revealed that Italy has delivered its official notice of withdrawal in January 2015. According to the journal, Italy’s decision to withdraw, is to...
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Italy: GSE Claims Reimbursement of FiT Payments from Conto Energia I Plant Owners
By McDermott Will & Emery on Apr 1, 2015
Posted In EU Developments, Renewables
Owners of early generation Conto Energia I photovoltaic (PV) plants are currently receiving letters from the Gestore dei Servizi Energetici (GSE) announcing that it will adjust the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) downwards and claim reimbursement of, or set-off with, the excess payments it made in past years. An example of one of these letters is attached...
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Italy: Incentive Regimes for Renewable Energy Plants
By McDermott Will & Emery and Anna Vesco on Mar 26, 2015
Posted In Renewables
The introduction of retrospective tariff cuts to photovoltaic (PV) plants and the abolition of the Robin Tax by the Italian Constitutional Court, combined with simplified regulation and taxation of new forms of debt financing, have turned the attention of foreign investors from PV assets to other renewable energy sources (RES) assets. Italian plants producing energy...
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Certificated Natural Gas Storage Capacity Is Based on Science, Not Sales, FERC Rules
By McDermott Will & Emery on Mar 24, 2015
Posted In FERC, Natural Gas
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the Commission) issued an order on Thursday, March 19, 2015, refusing to allow the abandonment of certificated working gas capacity when the reason for the request was unrelated to the physical characteristics of the storage facility and unsupported by engineering or geological data. The applicant had sought the abandonment authorization...
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IRS Issues Additional Guidance on Beginning of Construction Rules for Renewable Projects
By McDermott Will & Emery, Heather Cooper and Philip Tingle on Mar 23, 2015
Posted In Renewables, Tax
The Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2015-25 on March 11, 2015, to provide further guidance on meeting the beginning of construction requirements for wind and other qualified facilities. The Notice extends the date by which a facility can meet the beginning of construction deadline to correspond with the extension of Code Section 45 passed by...
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Key Energy-Related Tax Provisions in the 2016 Budget Proposal
By McDermott Will & Emery, Heather Cooper and Philip Tingle on Feb 24, 2015
Posted In Renewables, Tax
President Obama’s recently released budget proposal for the 2016 fiscal year repeats many of his past energy-related tax proposals, including a permanent extension of the renewable energy production tax credit and a provision making it refundable. Making the production tax credit permanent and refundable signals the administration’s continued strong support for renewable energy. This Special...
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Bankruptcy Courts Fail to Enlighten on Electricity as Goods or Services
By McDermott Will & Emery on Oct 23, 2014
Posted In Power Markets
Is electricity goods or services? That seemingly simple yet confounding question is illustrated by three recent bankruptcy cases (all of which consider whether an electricity provider is entitled to an administrative expense priority under Bankruptcy Code Section 503(b)(9) for “the value of goods received by the debtor” in the ordinary course within 20 days prior...
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CFTC Finalizes Exception for Swaps with Utility Special Entities
By McDermott Will & Emery on Oct 1, 2014
Posted In CFTC, Natural Gas
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last week released a final rule excluding certain electricity and natural gas swaps with governmental agencies and municipalities from the lower de minimis threshold for swaps with special entities. The rule makes permanent currently existing no-action relief previously issued by CFTC Staff. The final rule is the result of...
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