Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

PTC uncertainty threatening job-generating industry

One of the most striking aspects of the wind power industry is how it blends 21st-century technology with old-school economic engines like manufacturing. That juxtaposition is nowhere more apparent than in the small town of Windsor, Colo.

Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, which has opened several facilities in Colorado, has a blade plant in Windsor (population 18,644). Wind power has helped to breathe new life into American manufacturing, and Windsor is a prime example of how the clean, affordable energy technology has revitalized American towns. The community is featured on WindTV, the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA) vehicle to highlight ...

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A newly released study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) study will help New York state officials manage coastal waters and guide future development of offshore wind energy projects, NOAA said in a news release yesterday.

The study, A Biogeographic Assessment of Seabirds, Deep Sea Corals and Ocean Habitats of the New York Bight, will help the state identify favorable wind energy development sites in the Atlantic and protect critical offshore bird and fish habitats. Ultimately, siting decisions will be streamlined, spurring development of wind energy industry jobs in the region.

The report is the result of a two-year collaboration ...

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BP Alternative Energy CEO Katrina Landis, pointing to the wind power industry's success in reducing costs and the need for business certainty going forward, yesterday urged that the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) be extended beyond its scheduled expiration at the end of this year.

Landis made her remarks in an interview with Bloomberg News at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York City.  A separate interview with Bloomberg Television is also available.

Landis called the PTC "a really compelling example of a technology and an incentive program that's ...

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The American Enterprise Institute's (AEI) Steven F. Hayward had a blog post recently discussing the fact that in recent years, federal incentives for clean energy have risen relative to those for fossil fuels.

Interestingly, Mr. Hayward states that incentives are critical to clean energy sources like wind and solar power, but that the fossil fuels industries would be little affected if their subsidies were withdrawn.  This, of course, begs the question of why the latter are still in place, and why the oil and gas industries defend them so energetically.

Whatever the reason for that might be, as we have pointed out here on a number of occasions, incentives should be viewed in a historical context. Government funding support has helped all of our domestic energy ...

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Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (R) and U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R) yesterday called in a joint Wichita Eagle op-ed for extension of wind power's primary incentive, the federal wind energy production tax credit (PTC).

Noting that Kansas's wind resource is the second largest of any state, the two wrote, "If we expect the wind energy industry to provide for our country’s future energy needs and make long-term investments in their businesses, Congress must reauthorize the wind production tax credit (PTC) that expires this year. By extending the wind PTC, Congress will allow the wind ...

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Wind energy industry members and advocates expressed relief and thanks Thursday when Wisconsin’s new wind farm siting rules, originally scheduled to take effect a year ago, became law.

The latest news came after a bill to repeal the rules was sent back to committee last week and subsequently was not further acted on in the final days of the legislative session. Actions by Wisconsin-based member companies and individuals in the state were critical to making sure that the state legislature did not act to permanently suspend the rules in the waning days of the session.

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U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) yesterday introduced a bill that would provide a two-year extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC) scheduled to expire at the end of the year.

The bipartisan proposal would prevent a lapse in the credit.  In a news release, the Senators said they hope to have the extension passed as quickly as possible in order to provide tax certainty for the renewable energy sector.

“Tax reform efforts might modify or address this incentive in the near future, but the jobs and opportunities provided by wind energy should not be abandoned in the meantime.  And limiting the bill’s impact on ...

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The Houston Chronicle yesterday became the latest in a steadily growing number of newspapers to endorse an extension of wind power's primary incentive, the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

The Chronicle's endorsement was noteworthy for its specifics on the growth of the wind power industry in Texas and elsewhere: "Wind now generates about 3 percent of the nation's electricity and 7 percent of the electricity used in Texas. And the growth curve ahead is beyond promising, with renewable energy production expected to grow by 252 percent in the next two decades.

"The major question mark standing between the wind industry and that ...

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The Washington Times was in high dudgeon yesterday, lashing out at a series of federal programs aimed at promoting clean energy sources such as wind and solar power.  What got lost in all the rhetorical thud and blunder was the enormous progress the U.S. wind power industry has made over the past decade in creating new American manufacturing jobs--many of which are currently at risk due to Congressional inaction on an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC)--and helping to bolster an uneven economy.

It's worth noting that, on the very same day that the Times was ripping wind power from inside the Beltway,

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The Wall Street Journal weighs in with an editorial today criticizing Senate votes on a variety of energy proposals during yesterday's debate on a major transportation bill in Congress. It all sounds pretty good, but in the real world, things are seldom as simple as they seem. What's overlooked here?

First and foremost, as an emerging industry that is growing rapidly and providing an increasing number of new manufacturing jobs, wind energy needs a stable, predictable tax policy environment to flourish. This point was made more generally, as it happens, in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed (see WSJ op-ed: 'Want Growth? Try Stable Tax Policy', January 5, 2012). Stability has been sorely lacking ...

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