Adam Capital, a Sonoma-based lender specializing in financing small-scale solar projects, is encouraging solar companies to look into a potential “safe harbor clause” that could extend a 30-percent federal grant on solar projects that is set to expire at the end of this year.

The lender has used the grant, described in section 1603 of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009, as collateral when lending to “rooftop-scale projects” that Adam Capital CEO Adam Boucher said are typically too small-scale to obtain financing from a bank.

While discussions about the federal grant are ongoing and subject to change, the clause might allow some projects to obtain the grant through 2016 if developers invest a portion of their total project cost by the end of this year.

Those who are looking to finance projects using the grant in the future could still have time to do so if they act by December 31, Mr. Boucher said. The lender emphasized that some experts and government officials disagreed about how to interpret the complex program and advised developers to seek tax and legal advice to ensure compliance.