Why Is Wall Street Profiting From Clean Energy Tax Credits?
Tax credits don’t give people money for solar panels and wind turbines up front. That’s where investors come in.
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An early example of a wind farm, in 2006
Since they were first introduced in the 1970s, tax credits for renewables have helped scale up and dramatically reduce the cost of clean power in the United States. But in recent years they have also created opportunities for a small handful of major investment banks to skim billions off the top, extracting lavish fees and control over clean energy projects as part of deals shrouded in secrecy. Public power providers—who serve nearly a third of retail electricity customers—have trouble accessing clean energy tax credits at all.