Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

A recent poll on public attitudes toward climate change by researchers at Stanford (Calif.) University has found a very strong majority of Americans (73 percent) favoring "the federal government giving companies tax breaks to produce more electricity from water, wind, and solar power."

The idea of tax breaks for renewable energy companies also was the most popular among a list of 12 policy options offered in the poll.  The levels of support for the other policy proposals appearing in the survey were as follows:

Requiring or encouraging with tax breaks the lowering of the amount of greenhouse gases that power plants are allowed to release into the atmosphere: 70 percent.
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The Toledo (Ohio) Blade yesterday became the most recent in a series of newspapers around the country endorsing an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), the primary incentive that has encouraged the wind power industry's growth over the past decade.

The Blade's endorsement came in the form of a "Guest Editorial" from the New York Times--the Blade's policy is to reprint editorials that reflect its views.

The editorial calls wind power a "case in point" for a federal incentive program that has been successful: "By spurring innovation and growth, a federal production tax credit for wind amounting to 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour has ...

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The Mason City (Iowa) Globe-Gazette carried an editorial Tuesday applauding new power agreements signed by Osage (Iowa) Municipal Utilities that will save that company's customers about $4 million over 20 years by tapping the electricity generated by a new North Dakota wind farm.

While the editorial does not mention the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), the PTC has been instrumental in encouraging the development of the North Dakota project and many others like it, and can continue to do so if extended by legislation now pending in Congress.

According to the ...

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The port of Ogdensburg, N.Y., is bustling with activity these days, as wind turbines and their components for a large wind farm in upstate New York arrive by ship and rail.

Located on the St. Lawrence river northeast of Lake Ontario, Ogdensburg is a staging center for a wind farm in Churubusco, N.Y., on the state's far northern boundary.

Interviews conducted by reporter John Friot of the local Fox affiliate, WNNY-TV, tell the story.  The project means "70 jobs and hundreds of thousands of dollars for the North Country," he says, and Wade Davis, Executive Director of the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority, explains, "There's anywhere on this project ...

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The new $363-million Crow Lake Wind Project near White Lake, S.D., has just paid its first property tax bills to three rural counties in the amount of a very welcome $800,000, about $300,000 more than expected, according to delighted local authorities.

Basin Electric Cooperative operates the 162-megawatt (MW) Crow Lake wind farm, which paid $297,000 to Jerauld County, $257,000 to Brule County, and $239,000 to Aurora County, according to the Mitchell (S.D.) Republic.

The article quoted Jerauld County Director of Equalization ...

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Colorado’s Wind for Schools—a program that marked the beginning of a national movement—recently was honored with a Wirth Chair Award for its work in integrating wind energy into classrooms throughout the state.

Wind for Schools, an innovative program in that it simultaneously addresses wind industry workforce development needs and public understanding of wind energy deployment, was launched by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America initiative, based at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Wind for Schools has gotten off the ground in 11 states (Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Alaska, Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, ...

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Extending the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) is part of an "all-of-the-above" approach to increasing U.S. domestic energy production, according to U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), one of the chief sponsors of a PTC extension bill.

In an interview Friday on the "Line on Agriculture" program of AgInfo.net, Mr. Reichert commented, "Most of the Republicans I talk to are in favor of all of the above and there are a lot of them who support a tax credit over ... versus the other methods that have been used to support outside entities and whatever product they might be trying to produce."

The PTC, he added, " ... isn’t a grant, it’s not a stimulus ...

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AWEA Senior Technical Programs Manager John Dunlop attended the Hannover Messe trade fair in Germany last week, where the question of whether Congress will extend the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) was a hot topic. Upon his return, John provided this analysis of why a PTC expiration will be far more damaging to far more people than in the past.

Congressional inaction was a big issue In discussions this week at Hannover Messe.  Any U.S. or foreign person who knew about U.S. politics knew about the PTC problem.  As I discussed the issue with others, it became clear that the impact will be much worse than in the early part of the last decade, when Congress failed to take timely action on three occasions and allowed the credit to ...

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The wind power industry now has another new and innovative business to help make it even more cost-effective and efficient.

Marking the day with a celebration attended by over 150 people including state and local officials as well as representatives from some of the nation’s top wind industry companies, Gearbox Express (GBX)—a new company with a first-of-its-kind business model—opened the doors of its gearbox refurbishing facility in Mukwonago, Wis.

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U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) appeared on Fox News Tuesday to argue the case for an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), saying of Congress, "We're just not doing our job. We need to get after it."

Added Mr. Bennet, "I think that in the overall scheme of things in Washington where the place... (has) really become, I call it 'the land of flickering lights', because  the standard of the success there is where we kept the lights on for another two months, and kept the government running for another two months."

Mr. Bennet is a cosponsor of

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