[President-elect] Obama May Revamp Tax Credits to Spur Green-Energy Investments

From Bloomberg:

President-elect Barack Obama is studying ways to get more investors to use $7.7 billion in tax credits for renewable-energy projects that otherwise may not be funded during the recession.

He’s considering proposals to encourage more investment in solar and wind energy, said Dan Reicher, an energy and environment adviser for Obama. One plan would broaden guidelines for the use of the tax credits, said John Cavalier, managing partner at Hudson Clean Energy Partners, a Teaneck, New Jersey- based firm that invests in renewable power.

The credits, part of a $700 billion bank-rescue law that took effect on Oct. 3, benefit investors with taxable gains. Investors with losses -- a growing group -- would need the law changed to get aid. Obama, whose inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 20, may add investment incentives into legislation he plans to stimulate economic growth, Reicher said....

...Funding Disappeared

Cavalier, the former chairman of the energy group at Zurich- based Credit Suisse Group AG, is among fund managers and industry groups lobbying Obama to ease rules on the tax credits.

Funding by some of the biggest investment companies has disappeared, and without changes the renewable-energy industry’s growth will be “seriously compromised,” Cavalier said.

Companies that invested in the past and got tax breaks, “like AIG, Lehman Brothers and even Morgan Stanley and others, they’re out of the market,” he said at the American Council on Renewable Energy conference, which was attended by Iowa Governor Chet Culver and former U.S. Senator Tom Daschle....MORE