On February 8, 2010, the Michigan Public Service Commission issued an order approving $1.6 million in Michigan Energy Efficiency grants, $1.3 million of which will go to Grand Valley State University, Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center, in partnership with the University of Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute to conduct and/or perform studies to explore the feasibility…

On January 27, Arizona Public Service (APS) announced two requests for proposals (RFPs), one for new sources of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy and the other for Arizona-based wind.  

The RFP for solar PV seeks proposals for projects that are between 15 and 50 megawatts and that employ commercially proven technology.  APS’s goal is to procure approximately 220,000…

In late January, FERC issued an order in response to a filing by Western Grid Development LLC that asked FERC to declare that Western Grid’s proposed battery storage devices are transmission facilities eligible for certain rate incentives.  Western Grid described its battery technology as 10 to 50 MW sodium sulfur batteries that would be installed at…

Earlier today, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) posted its climate change interpretive release, which can be found at http://www.sec.gov/rules/interp/2010/33-9106.pdf.  Our prior Blog on the subject is here, and our alert on the topic can be found here.  Stoel Rives corporate securities partners Ron McFall and CJ Voss will be posting a follow up alert …

The first wind farm developed by juwi in the U.S. will soon generate clean and safe electricity. Construction works at the Flat Water Wind Farm in Richardson County, Neb., have already started. By the beginning of 2011, 40 turbines will be up and running, thereby producing roughly 220 million kilowatt hours of carbon-dioxide-free power per year. The project will be constructed by Gallop Power LLC, a U.S.- based company established to develop, own, and operate clean energy projects. Gallop has acquired Flat Water Wind Farm from juwi’s J.W. Prairie Wind Power LLC. Stoel Rives LLP represented juwi in the transaction.

"We were very pleased to have assisted juwi in accomplishing the transaction that will result in the construction and operation of their first wind farm in the United States. juwi, as an international player in the wind and solar energy with operating generation facilities in Europe and elsewhere, is the kind of company that we need active in the U.S. markets to help move our renewable energy sector forward," said Ed Einowski, Stoel Rives LLP partner who represented juwi in the transaction.Continue Reading Stoel Rives LLP assists with first juwi-developed U.S. wind farm

President Obama met today with a bipartisan group of governors from around the country and announced a series of steps the administration is taking to boost biofuels production in the United States.  The President’s Biofuels Interagency Working Group released a report spelling out ways to promote the development of the biofuels industry in the United States…

2010 may be a cataclysmic year for the tax system. Virtually all the important tax cuts enacted in the Bush Administration expire at the end of this year. In addition, the pending health care reform legislation contains several significant revenue provisions. How will Congress deal with this fundamental shift? Further, the 1603 grant program will…

My partner Tom Wood circulated this preliminary alert this afternoon:

"Earlier today the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) approved interpretive guidance intended to inform public companies how climate change must be taken into account when applying existing disclosure requirements.  Specifically, the SEC’s interpretative guidance highlights the following areas as examples of where climate change …

Stoel Rives would like to congratulate REC Silicon and SolarWorld on their awards of tax credits by the IRS and DOE. These two companies, combined, received over 10 percent of all the tax credits awarded nationwide under section 48C of the tax code.

On Friday, January 8, the Department of Energy awarded to 183 companies…