Tribes now eligible for REPI

The 2005 Energy Policy Act reauthorizes the Renewable Energy Production Incentive and extends it to Native American entities.

The purpose of the program is to encourage tax-exempt power providers to increase the generation and use of electricity from renewable energy and to promote advances in renewable energy technologies. Nonprofit electric co-ops, municipalities and now Indian tribal governments and Native corporations can claim the incentives to help fund renewable projects.

A facility using solar, wind, biomass, landfill gas or geothermal energy to generate electricity can receive annual incentive payments of 1.5 cents per kilowatthour for the first 10 years of its operation. The new REPI also accepts livestock methane and ocean power, including tidal, wave, current and thermal technologies. Municipal solid waste incinerators, dry steam geothermal reservoirs, steam plants and hydro dams are not eligible for the credit.

Payment of the credit is subject to sufficient funds being appropriated in each Federal fiscal year of operation. Projects that came online in the window between the expiration of the previous REPI in 2003 and the authorization of the current incentive may apply for the credit. Only qualified facilities operating before sunset for the 2005 REPI on Sept. 30, 2026, and only renewable energy powerplants operating before Oct. 1, 2016 can receive the REPI.