How low can you go? Basis Climate closes one of the smallest ITC deals on 1.2 MW Florida solar project
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How low can you go? Basis Climate closes one of the smallest ITC deals on 1.2 MW Florida solar project

Basis Climate, a digital marketplace for transferable renewable energy tax credits, has announced the closing of a $600,000 transfer of investment tax credits from WeWould Solar, a subsidiary of Stadlen Family Holdings sold to Creditable Capital, a private market investment group focused on acquiring clean energy tax credits from lower to middle market commercial projects.

The transferred credits are from WeWould Solar’s 1.2 MW behind-the-meter solar project outside Gainesville, Florida.

“The Basis Climate team was fantastic,” reported Adam Stern, founding partner of Creditable Capital. “After exploring several opportunities on the platform, we were excited to work with the team on this C&I single solar asset. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Basis Climate and providing our investors with additional tax credit transfer opportunities.”

The deal is the smallest yet for Basis Climate, which the company says represents a milestone in its ability to efficiently transfer tax credits at smaller and smaller deal sizes.

“We started our business because we firmly believe that clean energy tax credits of all sizes need to find ways to transact efficiently in the transfer market,” said Erik Underwood, CEO of Basis Climate. “The Inflation Reduction Act will not provide its true impact unless the entire market has access to the universe of project finance solutions.”

“Creditable’s investment in these tax credits empowers project developers and owners to unlock hard-to-source equity capital, fostering the construction of additional projects and expediting our nation’s transition to a clean energy economy,” added Stern.

A provision of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) created a market for clean energy tax credits by allowing for their one-time transfer to other federal tax-paying entities, making it easier for developers to raise the capital they need to finance their projects. Historically, tax credit monetization took place through large tax equity investments, often in the millions of dollars.

Lately, the deals are still more likely to feature figures that start with an “M” or a “B.”

Last month, Ørsted closed on $680M in tax equity financing for a solar+storage portfolio in Texas and Arizona. In April, NextEra Energy Inc. announced it had made a deal to transfer about $1 billion in tax credits in 2024.

According to a report from Crux, another ecosystem for managing transferable tax credits, between $7-$9 billion in transferable tax credit transactions were made last year in the United States. Basis expects the annual transfer volume of clean energy tax credits to grow to over $100 billion by the end of the decade.

“The federal clean energy tax credit program has played a crucial role in propelling the growth of non-utility scale solar energy nationwide,” notes Stern.

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