This notice publishes the inflation adjustment factor and reference prices for calendar year 2004 for the renewable electricity production credit under § 45(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. The 2004 inflation adjustment factor and reference prices are used in determining the availability of the credit. The 2004 inflation adjustment factor and reference prices apply to calendar year 2004 sales of kilowatt-hours of electricity produced in the United States or a possession thereof from qualified energy resources.
Section 45(a) provides that the renewable electricity production credit for any tax year is an amount equal to the product of 1.5 cents multiplied by the kilowatt-hours of specified electricity produced by the taxpayer and sold to an unrelated person during the tax year. This electricity must be produced from qualified energy resources and at a qualified facility during the 10-year period beginning on the date the facility was originally placed in service.
Section 45(b)(1) provides that the amount of the credit determined under § 45(a) is reduced by an amount that bears the same ratio to the amount of the credit — as (A) the amount by which the reference price for the calendar year in which the sale occurs exceeds 8 cents, bears to (B) 3 cents. Under § 45(b)(2), the 1.5 cents in § 45(a) and the 8 cents in § 45(b)(1) are each adjusted by multiplying the amount by the inflation adjustment factor for the calendar year in which the sale occurs.
Section 45(c)(1) defines qualified energy resources as wind, closed-loop biomass, and poultry waste. Section 45(c)(3) defines a qualified facility as any facility owned by the taxpayer that originally is placed in service after December 31, 1993 (in the case of a facility using wind to produce electricity), December 31, 1992 (in the case of a facility using closed-loop biomass to produce electricity), or December 31, 1999 (in the case of a facility using poultry waste to produce electricity), and before January 1, 2004. See § 45(d)(7) for rules relating to the inapplicability of the credit to electricity sold to utilities under certain contracts.
Section 45(d)(2)(A) requires the Secretary to determine and publish in the Federal Register each calendar year the inflation adjustment factor and the reference prices for the calendar year. The inflation adjustment factor and the reference prices for the 2004 calendar year were published in the Federal Register on March 25, 2004, (69 Fed. Reg. 15436).
Section 45(d)(2)(B) defines the inflation adjustment factor for a calendar year as the fraction the numerator of which is the GDP implicit price deflator for the preceding calendar year and the denominator of which is the GDP implicit price deflator for the calendar year 1992. The term “GDP implicit price deflator” means the most recent revision of the implicit price deflator for the gross domestic product as computed and published by the Department of Commerce before March 15 of the calendar year.
Section 45(d)(2)(C) provides that the reference price is the Secretary’s determination of the annual average contract price per kilowatt hour of electricity generated from the same qualified energy resource and sold in the previous year in the United States. Only contracts entered into after December 31, 1989, are taken into account.
The inflation adjustment factor for calendar year 2004 is 1.2230. The reference prices for calendar year 2004 are 3.24 cents per kilowatt-hour for facilities producing electricity from wind energy resources and 0 cents per kilowatt-hour for facilities producing electricity from closed-loop biomass and poultry waste energy resources.
Because the 2004 reference prices for electricity produced from wind, closed-loop biomass, and poultry waste energy resources do not exceed 8 cents per kilowatt hour multiplied by the inflation adjustment factor, the phaseout of the credit provided in § 45(b)(1) does not apply to electricity produced from wind, closed-loop biomass, or poultry waste energy resources sold during calendar year 2004.
As required by § 45(b)(2), the 1.5¢ amount in § 45(a)(1) is adjusted by multiplying such amount by the inflation adjustment factor for the calendar year in which the sale occurs. If any amount as increased under the preceding sentence is not a multiple of 0.1¢, such amount is rounded to the nearest multiple of 0.1¢. Under the calculation required by § 45(b)(2), the renewable electricity production credit for calendar year 2004 is 1.8¢ per kilowatt hour on the sale of electricity produced from wind energy, closed-loop biomass, and poultry waste resources.
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