Solar firms lament loss of

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In addition to expiring tax the industry grappledwith tax-equity investors pulling back in the last “Most of the tax-equity players have cut back throughoutg the industry,” said Lyndon Rive, CEO of . “Jobse that … had tax-equity investors, don’t have tax-equith investors anymore.” Companies including , , , JP , , and others essentially buy tax benefits from sola companiesthat don’t have enough taxable incomee to use those credits on theirr own. Tax-equity investors get to use those tax credits as part of a strategt to shelter otherwisetaxable income.
And the incomd lets solar companies cut pricees for the products and Many in the solar industrgy say that among all of the technologicak breakthroughs the industryis it’s financing innovations like tax-equity investing that are driving the industry’s growth. But the credit crisis — including massively changed circumstances for some of thebig tax-equithy players — changed all of “There’s simply fewer investors because there are fewer banks and fewer investment banks,” said Ed Feo, an attorneg and co-chair of the project financer and energy practice of Milbank Tweed, Hadleh & McCloy in Los Angeles.
Large banks that surviver the chaos and have acquired troubled banksx are likely to adjust their tax strategies now that lossex from the troubled banks are ontheir books, Feo JPMorgan, for example, is probably the biggesty player in the energy tax-equity he said. But JPMorgan on Sept. 29 paid $1.9 billion for seizex ’s deposits. “JPMorgan is still but you have to wonder from a tax planning how important this is relativew to everythingelse they’re doing,” Feo said. Rive said SolarCitty is one of theluckyg companies. Morgan Stanley has not pulled back on its commitmenf tofund SolarCity’s SolarLease program.
In San Francisco, that progra can save a customer money on electric billsx fromday one, an attractive feature that other solat companies haven’t been able to offer. With fewerd tax-equity investors, competition is heating up amonfgsolar companies. Renewable-energy developers already are accepting the less advantageouxs terms made availableby tax-equity investors, and they feel they have less leverage to Feo said. “The reality is we have just as many or more tax advantagse asset opportunities that are chasingless money,” said Alexanderd Welczeck, founding partner at . “Morer deals chasing less money makex that ratego up.
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