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GOVERNMENTS | CLEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY & QUALIFIED ENERGY CONSERVATION BONDS E-mail
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A. Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (“CREBs”)

CREBs may be used by primarily public sector entities to finance renewable energy projects. CREBs are issued, theoretically, with a 0% interest rate. The borrower only pays back the principal of the bond, and the bondholder receives federal tax credits in lieu of the traditional bond interest. CREBs differ from traditional tax-exempt bonds because CREB tax credits are treated as taxable income for the bondholder.

CREB tax credits may be taken each year the bondholder has a tax liability, as long as the credit amount does not exceed the limits established by the EPACT. The U.S. Department of the Treasury lists the treasury rates for prior CREB allocations, or "old" CREBs, as well as rates for new CREBs and other qualified tax credit bonds. 

B. Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds (QECBs)

QECBs may be used by state, local, and tribal governments to finance certain types of energy projects. QECBs are qualified tax credit bonds, and in this respect are similar to new CREBs.   The Recovery Act increases the amount of funds available to issue qualified energy conservation bonds from the one-time national limit of $800 million to $3.2 billion.

The definition of "qualified energy conservation projects" is fairly broad and contains elements relating to energy efficiency capital expenditures in public buildings; renewable energy production; various research and development applications; mass commuting facilities that reduce energy consumption; several types of energy related demonstration projects; and public energy efficiency education campaigns. Renewable energy facilities that are eligible for CREBs are also eligible for QECBs. 

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EERE Financial Opportunities
Financial opportunities and solicitations for business, industry, and universities from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
  • SunShot Incubator Program - Soft Cost Reduction
    Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0000607
    Funding Organization: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
    Open Date: 2011-11-15
    Close Date: 2012-03-05
    Funds Available:
    Description:

    DOE is supporting the development of tools and approaches that will reduce balance of system non-hardware costs for solar energy systems. These soft costs—expenses associated with permitting, financing, interconnection, and inspection—can account for approximately half of the total expense of photovoltaic installations.

    As part of the SunShot Incubator program, this funding opportunity is designed to help small businesses and entrepreneurs develop data-driven tools, innovative programs, and streamlined processes that will make solar more accessible for Americans. This solicitation builds on the Incubator program's proven success with photovoltaic technologies to begin targeting market barriers. By addressing all sectors of the solar energy economy, the SunShot Initiative works to reduce the total installed cost of photovoltaic systems.

  • SunShot Concentrating Solar Power Research and Development
    Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0000595
    Funding Organization: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
    Open Date: 2011-10-25
    Close Date: 2012-02-07
    Funds Available:
    Description:

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) seeks to fund revolutionary applied scientific research that develops highly disruptive Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technologies that will meet 6 cents per kWh cost target by the end of the decade. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for SunShot Concentrating Solar Power Research and Development intends to support research into technologies that have the potential for much higher efficiency, lower cost, and/or more reliable performance than existing commercial and near-commercial CSP systems and their expected incremental progress in future years.

    As part of the SunShot Initiative, this applied research program is intended to demonstrate and prove new concepts in the collector, receiver, and power cycle subsystems, including associated hardware and manufacturing processes. These developments should lead to subsequent system integration, engineering scale-up, and eventual commercial production for electricity generation applications. The SunShot CSP program is designed to look beyond incremental near-term innovation and explore transformative concepts with the potential to break through performance barriers as known today, such as efficiency and temperature limitations. These goals support the mission of the DOE SunShot Initiative.

    There are four topics to which an application may be submitted under this FOA:

    • Topic 1: Advanced Collectors
    • Topic 2: Advanced Receivers
    • Topic 3: Advanced Power Cycles
    • Topic 4: Seedling CSP Concepts