By Zack Colman
The Hill
If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, Co-Chair of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department at crich@roselawgroup.com
The Obama administration lent its support Wednesday to a congressional effort that would open a financing structure for renewable energy.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu called on Congress to approve legislation that would let investors utilize master limited partnerships for renewable energy, which he said would spur development. “It’s a world of difference and it will have a profound effect on capital private investment,” Chu said during an Energy Department event on wind energy.
Master limited partnerships are financing structures that are taxed like a partnership and traded like a stock. The arrangement reduces capital costs by spreading it among a greater number of investors, and by taxing the entity at one level instead of two.