Nevada Journal ^ | May 10, 2012 | Kyle Gillis
LAS VEGAS — The company behind the recently opened Silver State North solar plant is eligible to receive up to $50 million in federal tax credits under the Obama administration’s “stimulus” legislation, even though the plant created only two full-time jobs.
According to a Department of Interior memo, Enbridge Energy Partners, a Canadian-based company with extensive energy holdings in the U.S. that purchased the Southern Nevada plant from Arizona-based First Solar, “can apply for payments of up to 30 percent of the eligible costs of the project — approximately $50 million.”
The payments are available through the 1603 Program, a special exemption in the Treasury Department created by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to “reimburse eligible applicants for a portion of the cost of installing specified energy property used in a trade or business or for the production of income.”
The program states that the “1603 payment is made after the energy property is placed in service; a 1603 payment is not made prior to or during construction of the energy property.”
Silver State North began service on Monday, May 7. Larry Springer, a community relations manager at Enbridge, confirmed to Nevada Journal the company intends to file a 1603 application for reimbursement.
As of March 2012, over 34,000 renewable-energy projects across the country have received $11.2 billion in taxpayer funds through the ARRA-funded program. In Nevada, 108 projects have received $147.1 million.
The Department of Energy estimates 5,500 full-time jobs were created by the program, meaning each job cost taxpayers approximately $2,036,363.
(Excerpt) Read more at nevadajournal.com ...
