Insights Search

The volatility of energy prices following recent geopolitical challenges has brought a renewed focus on domestic energy security.

The emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is driving a surge in demand for power-hungry data centre capacity in Europe.

‘Energy security and net zero are two sides of the same coin.’ This is the opening line of the UK government’s ‘Net Zero Growth Plan’, published in March 2023, and leaves no doubt as to the government’s perception of the interplay between energy security and energy transition.

On December 14, 2023, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing additional guidance to taxpayers on the advanced manufacturing production credit (the “AMP Credit”) available under section 45X of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

On November 17, 2023, the Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) issued proposed regulations [REG-132569-17] regarding the definition of “energy property” and related rules applicable to the energy credit (the “Proposed Regulations”) available under section 48 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”).

In an article published by Global Mining Review, Nabil Khodadad, Jonathan Roberts, and Ciara Ros discuss how to mitigate political risks in critical minerals projects.

Japanese heavy-industries companies that typically act as contractor or supplier on projects are increasingly being invited to contribute as equity investors in the projects that they construct or supply major equipment to, thereby taking a role as a project sponsor while also performing their role as ‘Contractor’ in the supply chain.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (“BIL”) and Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) allocated $97 billion to the Department of Energy (“DOE”) to fund energy-related projects, which has spurred the DOE to create numerous new grant and loan programs.

Some construction industry commentators have urged a more integrated approach to design and construction, with equitable risk sharing and an effort to ensure that project design will benefit from the experience of companies that build and supply key equipment and systems.

On August 29, 2023, the Department of Treasury (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing proposed rules governing the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements (together, the “Labor Requirements”) impacting a broad swath of clean energy tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IRA”) (i.e., sections 30C, 45, 45L, 45U, 45Q, 45V, 45Y, 45Z, 48, 48C, 48E, and 179D¹ of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended).

On August 10, 2023, the Department of Treasury (the “Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued final regulations (the “Final Regulations”) providing additional guidance to taxpayers on the “Low-Income Communities Bonus” (“LICB”) available under section 48(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.