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Reports
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The SEFI Carveout
Under its original Title 17 authority, the LPO was limited to providing credit to borrowers working with experimental technology. But a new carveout in the IIJA and the IRA extends that credit authority to nearly any kind of energy project, so long as it’s being co-financed by what’s called a State Energy Financing Institution (SEFI).
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CPE Elective Pay Model
The CPE Elective Pay Model is a tool developed in-house to help understand the financial considerations public utilities and other public agencies might face when making an elective pay investment in clean energy assets. Included here is report detailing the model, its assumptions, and results, a simulator tool (below) comparing tradeoff scenarios for the primary…
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Public Power Campaigns Database
This database, authored by Alexa Kane, Andrea Guscott, and Natalie Valachovic, identifies major public power campaigns across the country. Many of these campaigns seek to municipalize their local utility or replace their state utility, often but not always through cooperative structures. They generally prioritize delivering cheaper and cleaner energy, ending electricity shutoffs, and improving grid reliability.
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CPE’s comments on the proposed rules for elective pay and transferability
Read our full comments to the IRS on the proposed rules for sections 6417 and 6418 of the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Direct pay: an uncapped promise of the Inflation Reduction Act
The direct pay provisions of IRA §6417 allow tax exempt entities such as state and municipal governments to receive tax credits as direct transfers from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These direct pay provisions create new opportunities for public outlays on energy generation while having no formal cap on how much the government will spend…
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Comments on Guidance for Green Bank Implementation
The best way to achieve the goals of the GHGRF tranches is to use disbursements to construct a network of public and non-profit “green banks.” In particular, EPA should ensure that the vast majority of GHGRF disbursements benefit a national green bank, state green banks, and nonprofit green banks—each with linkages to one another and…
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Comments on Guidance for Direct Pay Under the Inflation Reduction Act
First, the program should be as expansive as possible: the more participants in the clean energy buildout, the better. Second, the program should create as much simplicity and predictability for public actors as possible in order to incentivize the highest level of participation that is feasible. By taking this approach, the federal government will be…
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Cooling oil consumption to ease price pressures
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has created a situation where it may be difficult in the near term for domestic supply of petroleum products to match domestic demand. This has led to record high gasoline prices. The use of strategic petroleum reserves has proved insufficient to bring supply up to the level of demand. But…