A little over a week ago I promised to conclude a series on solar REITs with an update on state of the structure today. Rather than take a lot of time to do this myself, I will direct readers to an article by Tom Konrad where he discusses the fact that there is at least one private letter ruling request in front of the IRS currently. The post serves as a strong follow up to the other recent article on solar REITs which Tom wrote in which I was featured heavily (I am quoted here as well).
The bottom line is that it is an exciting time for proponents of the solar REIT structure. It has never looked closer to becoming a reality, and it will seemingly only be a matter of time before people are trying to figure out if there is any way to actually make money using it. While my fingers are crossed on that front with respect to the short term, I also think that the S-REIT structure could be the greatest stimulant for project development going forward, and it, and other financial innovations like it, might be the only way to get the solar industry off of its addiction to incentives.
Getting the IRS to approve solar assets as REIT safe and investors making money by utilizing the resulting structure are both tall orders. However recent developments around the S-REIT structure are also incredibly exciting, and if people are able to crack the code it gives me a lot of hope for the future of solar.
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