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Wind industry sees good prospects for tax credit extension
The wind industry sounded an optimistic note Tuesday about the prospects of extending a key tax credit next year, pinning its hopes on legislation that has won bipartisan backing in the House.
“The year is wrapping without the all-important extension of the federal
Production Tax Credit (PTC), wind power’s primary policy driver, which
expires at the end of 2012,” the American Wind Energy Association, the wind industry's trade group, said Tuesday in a statement. “But the
PTC movement gathered momentum heading into next year.”
The industry says an extension of the production tax credit, which provides a credit for each kilowatt-hour of electricity that is produced, is essential for wind power to flourish.
AWEA touted House legislation to extend the tax credit by four years, sponsored by Reps. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). The bill has the support of 25 Democrats and 11 Republicans.
“The clock is ticking, business decisions are being made and some damage is certain,” AWEA CEO Denise Bode said in a statement earlier this month. “However, when Congress addresses extenders next year, we are very confident that continuing the wind manufacturing success story will be a prominent objective.”
A study commissioned by AWEA released earlier this month says that expiration of the production tax credit could cost as many as 37,000 jobs.
“American manufacturing jobs are coming back, with tens of thousands of new jobs from wind power,” Bode said. "But these jobs could vanish if Congress allows the Production Tax Credit to expire, in effect enacting a targeted tax increase, and sending our jobs to foreign countries."
AWEA said Tuesday that 2011 was a banner year for wind energy, citing lower costs and growing penetration of the renewable energy source in key states. Iowa and South Dakota now get 20 percent of their electricity from wind, and the cost of wind turbines has decreased by as much as 33 percent since 2008, the group said.
