Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

Chad Hall, founder and VP of sales for Ioxus, Inc., which makes high-tech power electronic gear for wind turbines, has an op-ed in today's edition of the trade newsletter Environmental Leader calling on Congress to extend the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

Mr. Hall sums up the case for an extension of the wind incentive--it means not raising taxes on a growing sector of the struggling national economy: "Killing the PTC is the same as Congress increasing taxes on renewable energy. A raise in taxes on renewable energy would tarnish an industry that has provided Americans with jobs and ensured stability of electricity prices. By extending the PTC, the country can ...

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Earth Day was yesterday, and union leader Vickie L. Hurley penned an op-ed in the Roanoke Times, taking note of the day and how wind power, which benefits the environment by displacing polluting energy sources, can also provide new manufacturing jobs in Virginia and elsewhere.

Ms. Hurley, president of IUE-CWA Local 82161 in Salem, Va., called for an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), an incentive which has proven extremely effective in helping wind power expand, leading in turn to more jobs and factories in the burgeoning industry's supply chain.

Commented Ms. Hurley, "[W]ind energy employs workers right here in Salem. Harnessing wind can create ...

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A pair of new graphics from AWEA provide a closer look at (1) how the impending expiration of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) disrupts the industry well before the actual expiration date, causing layoffs at wind development companies and component suppliers that gradually spread throughout the industry; and (2) the timetable, after an extension of the credit, until new wind projects go in the ground--illustrating why one-year extensions don't help nearly as much as long-term, predictable policy would.

The first graphic, showing projected job losses, illustrates how, because of the lead time involved in manufacturing, turbines previously ordered will continue to arrive at wind farms and be installed this year, even as layoffs are occurring in the ...

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In a development that highlights both the high-tech and manufacturing job-creation nature of wind power, next-generation wind turbine producer Northern Power Systems, of Barre, Vt., received the Renewable-Energy Exporter of the Year award from the Export-Import Bank of the United States at the bank’s annual conference last week.
 
Northern Power Systems garnered the award for shipping its U.S.-made, 100-kW distributed wind turbines to the European market. What makes news of the award particularly interesting, however, is that Northern Power Systems is one of the ...

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Developments both global and local in the past few days underline the value of wind power's primary incentive, the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), and its importance to the creation of new American manufacturing jobs.

Global: On Tuesday, Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) Executive Director Steve Sawyer said GWEC expects the world wind market to double over the next five years, with another 255,000 megawatts (MW) being added to the 238,000 MW already in the ground at the end of 2011.  At the going cost for new installations today, that amounts to a cool $433 billion in new business, or $86 billion/year.

Where are those new turbines ...

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Ross Kaminsky, a senior fellow at the fossil-fuel-funded Heartland Institute (an organization that has had more than its share of notoriety lately) had a column in yesterday's issue of the American Spectator that seriously misrepresents federal incentives for wind power and their impact.  The facts that Mr. Kaminsky fails to disclose are as follows:

Wind power's incentive, the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), does not involve federal outlays of tax money. Conservative Republican Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) put it well in an op-ed on the wind power credit in Politico earlier this year: "Low, stable tax rates generate jobs and economic growth. This idea has ...

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U.S. Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) toured the factory of wind component manufacturer Danotek last week along with AWEA Senior VP of Public Policy Rob Gramlich and expressed support for an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

Danotek, which produces permanent-magnet generators and power converters for wind systems, is based in the Detroit suburb of Canton, Mich.

In a news release issued by the company, Senator Levin commented, “I want to stress the importance of tax credits in green energy’s future in America and the world. Companies like Danotek can be suppliers in this global effort, and if we don’t support them, we are going to lose an awful lot of great jobs in Michigan. Danotek’s got some great innovators and ...

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