If you have distilled the 800 plus page Stimulus Act down to the 33 pages on Energy, you still recognize that quite a bit is unclear on what changes have been made and their ultimate impact.

A regulatory attorney from Chadbourne & Parke did an admirable job on simplifying this into 5 key areas:

1. Production Tax Credit:  this has been extended to 2012 for wind and 2013 for all other technologies
2. Investment Credit:  a developer has the option to take this credit or the PTC.  In effect, the IC is a cash grant from Treasury for 30% of project capital costs and will be payable in 60 days.  It was emphasized that this is the first time the government has provided an outright cash payment.  Importantly (unbelievably?), there is no cap per project and there is no total cap on Treasury funds.  Projects must be completed in 2009/2010 and be located in the US and owned by US investors (other strings also exist).
3. Bonus Depreciation: 50% can be taken after startup with the remaining taken under “normal” conditions.  Projects must be in service in 2009 and must be new builds.
4. DOE Loan Guarantee Program: $6 billion has been allocated for guarantees on ALL technologies and up to 80% per project.  Since 2005, DOE has provided zero guarantees, but with the change from innovative technologies to all technologies it is expected that this could have signficant impact.
5. Manufacturing Tax Credit: $2.3 billion is available for companies who produce components for the renewable energy industry.

The Investment Credit was identified as the biggest coup for the RE industry.