Pt 2 Chris Fish of McAllister & Quinn on Govt Incentives for Solar Manufacturers - buildaroo.com

Chris Fish, Vice President of Washington DC based government affairs firm, McAllister & Quinn, speaks about federal and state government incentives for Research & Development conduced by PV manufacturers. Chris leads the technology and renewable energy practice at McAliister and Quinn and has two decades of experience working for numerous Members of Congress as a senior staff person and a Chief of Staff.

In Chris' opinion, clean tech is the attractive sector for government officials. There are two groups of government officials that a clean tech company will deal with: programmer managers and elected officials/ political appointees. Chris distinguishes between these two officials and suggests different techniques when approaching them.

Some Key Points Chris mentions when dealing with elected officials:

1. Temper Your Personal Politics. Look at Governor as business partner and investor, not as a politician.
2. Every state wants a clean tech economy, so if you're doing clean tech you're in a good position for money.
3. Job retention vs. Job creation - You are in a better position if you are creating jobs.
4. Government officials like creation of a new industry
5. Have Realistic Expectations about how much money you can get.
6. You will get more money out of government for building manufacturing facilities than you will for Research & Development
7. Focus on Federal Government incentives for assistance with R&D and State and Local Government incentives for assistance with Manufacturing and Factory building.
8. Federal Incentive RFP Process - www.fbo.gov (clearing house of all the RFPs available through the federal government)
9. Try to target some of these R&D programs, and when possible meet with program managers before you look at an RFP.
10. Federal Small Business Funding for Tech (Under 500 employees with VC ownership of under 49%) - SBIR and STTR - for R&D funding
11. Congressional Appropriations and Earmarks
12. Funding Incentives for State and Local Governments - Check out www.dsireusa.org, a database showing State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency.
13. County Government Industrial Development Authority Organizations - can help you with bonding authority.
14. State Pension Funds - A number of states working to review renewable energy companies for their state's pension fund.
15. Larger opportunity for companies moving into a state.

In addition, Chris talk about how to maximize the grant amount offered by a state government.

Chris was part of the "Growth Opportunities in the New PV Market: Projects, Finance and Policy" event at the 2009 Intersolar Conference.

Event filmed by buildaroo.com and can be found on the buildaroo.com website.

Event produced by Greentech Media in partnership with the Prometheus Institute.

Category:

Science & Technology

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