CCBJ Interviews McCormick and Winbigler on Renewable Energy Tax Credits

February 11, 2020

McGuireWoods Houston partner Durham McCormick and Richmond associate Emily Winbigler were featured in a Jan. 30, 2020, Corporate Counsel Business Journal Q&A on the implications of the upcoming end to the continuity safe harbor for claiming production tax credits (PTCs) on wind turbines.

In the interview, the lawyers addressed IRS guidance, how to meet PTC eligibility requirements, how to satisfy the continuous efforts test or the continuous construction test, and investors’ willingness to take risk on these projects.

“The IRS’ list of excusable disruptions includes factors that would reasonably cause parties to pause the development of a project, but in some cases the list doesn’t line up well with the business needs of developers and investors in this space,” said Winbigler.

They also recommended steps developers should take to maintain qualification for the PTC.

Collect all information necessary to satisfy the tests, “but also organize and distill it into understandable spreadsheets and graphs so that an investor or IRS can quickly understand the good work that was done on a continuous basis,” McCormick said.