请允许我试着解释一下税务导向型融资（tax oriented financing）这个非常复杂的概念。美国的太阳能发电项目符合“投资税抵扣”【Investment Tax Credit (ITC)】政策。但是，无论是项目本身还是开发商都没有额度足够大的税单以利用其投资回报上的税收抵扣。因此，开发商就会与某个有足够大税单的投资者订立一份融资协议。该投资者把钱投入项目，并获得项目现金流及税收抵扣作为回报。问题在于，因为规定极其严格，我们有资格参与税务导向型融资的投资者数量不足。这个问题暂时通过“1603财政部资助项目【1603 Treasury Grant Program (TGP)】”得到了解决，它为开发商提供的选择是让其接受现金拨款以代替税收抵扣。TGP预计今年年底就到期了，届时太阳能发电项目将再次陷入无助的困境。

    解决办法就是调整现行规定，允许更多的私人投资者参与到太阳能发电项目中来。总统阁下有三种方法可以达成这一目标：1）延长《补助法案》（the Treasury Grant Program）的期限，2）实行投资税税款抵减资金返还，或者3）允许业主有限责任合伙企业（Master Limited Partnerships）结构（通常用于房地产和石油/天然气项目融资）用于投资税抵扣项目。净效果：不增加任何成本，因为投资税抵扣方案已经备案，效力将延至2016年，并且，上述方法没有一条会增加政府开支。

    下面的论证或许更有说服力。有强有力的逻辑表明，实现上述改变会为政府带来净节支。太阳能研究与咨询服务公司（EuPD Research）的一项研究发现，1603补助法案延期所产生的一切成本都会被免除的失业福利等成本（unemployment costs）和延期催生的新工作带来的所得税收入所抵消。重申一遍：政府从创造这些与太阳能发电相关的工作机会中获得的收入和节支将大于延长补助法案所产生的成本。

    总统先生，我们还在等什么呢？

    阿诺•哈里斯是再生能源公司（Recurrent Energy）的首席执行官，这家公司是太阳能发电项目的领先开发商，也是能源行业的资深企业。作为夏普公司（Sharp Corporation）主要的太阳能开发公司，再生能源公司将技术能力和获取必需资本的资源结合起来，可提供几乎任何规模的公用设施所需的太阳能。阿诺还在其博客“清洁能源的未来”（Clean Energy Future）上分享他对可再生能源的观点。

    译者：清远

    Let me try to explain the very complicated topic of tax oriented financing. Solar projects in the U.S. qualify for the Investment Tax Credit (ITC). But, neither the projects nor developers typically have big enough tax bills to make use of the credits on their returns. So, developers enter into a financial arrangement with an investor who does have a large tax bill. The investor puts money into the project and receives a combination of project cash flow and tax credits in return. The problem is that we have a shortage of investors eligible to participate in tax-oriented financings because the rules are overly restrictive. This problem was temporarily fixed by the 1603 Treasury Grant Program (TGP), which provides developers with the option to receive a cash grant in lieu of the tax credits. The TGP is scheduled to expire at the end of this year, leaving solar projects high and dry.

    The fix is an adjustment to the rules that allow more private investors to participate in solar projects. There are three options for the President to accomplish this goal: 1) extend the Treasury Grant Program, 2) make the Investment Tax Credit refundable, or 3) allow Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) structures (commonly used to finance real estate and oil/gas projects) for Investment Tax Credit Projects. Net Impact: no additional cost because the Investment Tax Credit is already on the books through 2016 and none of the above fixes would amount to a government spending increase.

    Here's what's even more compelling. There's strong logic that says the changes above would result in a net savings to government. A study from EuPD Research found that any cost of extending the 1603 TGP is more than offset by the avoided unemployment costs and additional income tax revenue generated by new jobs resulting from the extension. Read that again: the revenue and savings for the government from creating all those solar jobs would exceed the costs of the grant extension.

    What are we waiting for, Mr. President?

    Arno Harris is the CEO of Recurrent Energy, a leading developer of solar power projects, and an energy industry veteran. As the primary solar development company for Sharp Corporation worldwide, Recurrent Energy combines the technical capabilities and access to capital necessary to deliver utility solar at just about any scale. Arno also shares his views on renewable energy on his blog Clean Energy Future.