All posts by SEO Team

How to use Solar Energy in Agriculture

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your solar bond needs. How to use Solar Energy in Agriculture Family farms and large industrial-scale agricultural enterprises increasingly are turning to solar-generated electricity to power irrigation, greenhouses, heating and cooling of buildings housing livestock, dairy operations, drying of produce, refrigeration, and other processes. Read on to find out how to use solar energy in agriculture and how it benefits the industry. Benefits of Using Solar Energy in Agriculture Farmers and agricultural land managers benefit in many less obvious ways from using solar energy.  For example: Agricultural operations can gain an additional income stream by connecting their solar installations to the gris and selling excess solar-generated power to the local utility company. High-value, shade-tolerant crops and pollinator-friendly plant species can be grown beneath solar panels, adding to crop diversity and improving agricultural yields through increased pollination. There is the potential to reduce water use and extend growing seasons through solar-powered irrigation systems. And crops grown beneath solar panels require less water than those...

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Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) Acts

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. What Is the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) Act? The Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program (RRIF) act was first established as part of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century of 1998, and has been revised several times since then. Most recent changes were the result of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015. The RRIF program authorizes the Department of Transportation to make direct loans and guarantee loans up to $35 billion for the development of railroad infrastructure. Between 1998 and 2015, RRIF loans totaled only about $2.7 billion, and no loan guarantees were made. Consequently, the FAST Act included a number of changes intended to increase utilization of the RRIF program to improve railroad infrastructure. RRIF financing can be used for a number of railroad infrastructure development purposes, such as buying, improving, and upgrading rail equipment or facilities, developing new intermodal or railroad facilities, refinancing outstanding loans for railroad infrastructure projects, and...

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Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Private Activity Bonds

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. What Is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act? The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into Law in November 2021, authorized $550 billion in new spending over the next few years on a variety of infrastructure projects. Much of that spending will be at the state and local levels. In addition to authorizing an historic investment in infrastructure, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act encourages public/private partnerships (P3s) to sponsor infrastructure projects and amends some rules regarding the use of private activity bonds to finance them. What Are Private Activity Bonds? Private activity bonds are debt instruments issued by state or municipal governments to help finance construction projects sponsored by public and/or private entities for the benefit of the public. These are financial instruments to attract private sector investment, not to be confused with surety bonds. Investors who buy private activity bonds are lending money to a state or municipal entity and earn interest on their investment,...

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New $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill in Manufacturing, Construction, and Energy

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. Benefits Expected from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act People throughout the country are looking forward with high hopes to realizing the promise of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November 2021. With $550 billion earmarked for new spending on a wide range of infrastructure projects over the next few years, the construction industry is predicted to boom, adding millions of good, high-paying jobs in the building trades and related industries. Additionally, the Inflation Reduction Act signed in August 2022 added another $369 billion to the total funds allocated for infrastructure-related projects. The manufacturing sector, in particular, is expected to see substantial benefits from the investment in infrastructure. Not only will the demand for building materials and structural components increase, so will the need for buses, trains, and other vehicles and the parts to build and maintain them. The creation of a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging stations, coupled with legislative actions...

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Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA)

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. What Is the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act? The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) was signed into law in 1998 and reauthorized by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015. It established a federal credit assistance program operated under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide financing for certain surface transportation projects that DOT considers to be of national or regional importance. These may include projects to construct, expand, or upgrade highways, railways (primarily passenger lines, but also some used to transport freight), intermodal freight transfer facilities, or port terminals. Only projects valued at $10 million or more are eligible for TIFIA financing. Qualified state and local governments, transit authorities, transportation companies, and public/private partnerships (P3s) can apply for loans, loan guarantees, or standby lines of credit. TIFIA offers 35-year fixed-rate loans with no prepayment penalty and the option of deferring payments until five years after substantial project completion. Interest is...

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A Guide to Construction Bonding Requirements with the New Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your construction bonding needs. What Is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act? The November 2021 passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authorized a total of $1.2 trillion in spending, including $550 billion in new spending on a variety of infrastructure projects intended to upgrade, expand, and/or replace the nation’s aging and overburdened infrastructure—roads and bridges, the electric grid, rail systems, transit, ports, airports, water systems, and so on. Broadband expansion and the creation of a network of electric vehicle chargers address two pressing 21st century infrastructure needs that didn’t even exist only a couple of decades ago. The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law in August 2022 added another $369 billion to the total funding for infrastructure-related projects. As a result of this unprecedented investment in infrastructure, the construction industry is likely to see a similarly unprecedented boom. Impact on Construction Bonding Requirements One rule included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is intended to address a gray area in...

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Succeeding with Solar Power

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your solar bonding needs. Why Invest in Renewable Energy Generation? Companies around the world are strategizing to determine how they can reduce their carbon footprint and aid in the transition to a zero-carbon future. Reducing their dependence on energy from fossil fuels invariably plays a big part in their planning. Smaller businesses can move toward their energy goals by investing in community solar projects by buying or leasing a few panels and benefiting from selling their excess electricity output. Larger businesses may be in a position to install their own solar systems on company property. Companies that can bear the upfront cost of installing a solar energy system and generate their own electricity can reduce or even eliminate their need to acquire energy from the grid. They also may be able to gain another revenue stream by exporting their excess power to the grid, for a price. What’s Involved in Installing a Solar System? The seeds of success must be planted from the...

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A Guide to Solar Surety Bonds

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your solar bonding needs. What Are Solar Surety Bonds? All surety bonds required in conjunction with the permitting, construction, operation, or decommissioning of a solar generating facility fall into the broad category of solar surety bonds.  Solar surety bonds are a form of financial security used to mitigate risk in the solar energy industry. They are an alternative to letters of credit, cash deposits, and other ways to protect the financial interests of project owners and government entities—federal, state, or local—related to various phases of a solar generating facility’s life cycle. Each solar surety bond is a legally binding contract among three parties: the “obligee” requiring the bond, the “principal” purchasing the bond, and the “surety” guaranteeing the payment of valid claims against the bond. Solar Surety Bonds have certain advantages over other types of financial security. The main advantage from the principal’s standpoint is that a surety bond does not require a large initial outlay of cash or tie up the principal’s...

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What Is a Power Purchase Agreement?

Surety Bond Professionals is a family owned and operated bonding agency with over 30 years of experience. With access to a broad range of surety markets, our expert agents are ready to assist with all of your bonding needs. See more about purchase power agreements here. What Is a Power Purchase Agreement? Power purchase agreements are bilateral (2-party) contracts allowing customers to purchase energy and renewable energy certificates from a renewable energy supplier generating either solar or wind energy. A PPA allows a third party developer to install, own, and operate an energy system on property owned by a customer. The seller produces or generates power for sale. The buyer is the “offtaker” of that power. There are a number of ways in which PPAs can be configured. Some deals involve the actual physical delivery of energy. Some do not. Virtual or remote PPAs don’t involve a physical delivery of energy to the buyer. In more than half of the states in the country, PPA provides a way to finance energy projects in the absence of government subsidies. The renewable energy supplier can charge a fixed price, which yields a guaranteed ROI with minimum risk. These contractual agreements typically...

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