Financing Public Sector Projects with Clean Renewable Energy Bonds; Fact Sheet Series on Financing Renewable Energy Projects, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Clean renewable energy bonds (CREBs) present a low-cost opportunity for public entities to issue bonds to finance renewable energy projects. The federal government lowers the cost of debt by providing a tax credit to the bondholder in lieu of interest payments from the issuer. Because CREBs are theoretically interest free, they may be more attractive than traditional tax-exempt municipal bonds. In February 2009, Congress appropriated a total of $2.4 billion for the "New CREBs" program. No more than one-third of the budget may be allocated to each of the eligible entities: governmental bodies, electric cooperatives, and public power providers. Applications for this round of "New CREBs" were due to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on August 4, 2009. There is no indication Congress will extend the CREBs program; thus going forward, only projects that are approved under the 2009 round will be able to issue CREBs. This factsheet explains the CREBs mechanism and provides guidance on procedures related to issuing CREBs.