By Kari Williamson

A July 2011 survey of the major tax equity investors by the US Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance estimates expiration of the programme would shrink the total financing available for renewable energy projects by 52% in 2012.

“The 1603 programme was the single biggest driver of renewable energy deployment over the last two years, leveraging nearly US$23 billion of private sector funding,” says Rhone Resch, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). “Allowing it to expire at the end of the year, while tax equity markets remain limited, would have a severe impact on the few industries actually creating new American jobs in this economy.”