Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

The Topeka Capital-Journal, one of Kansas's major newspapers, Saturday joined the New York Times, Denver Post, and other newspapers in calling for the federal wind energy production tax credit (PTC) to be extended beyond its scheduled expiration at the end of this year.

The Capital-Journal referred to the support of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R), who held a press conference last week to express his support for wind power in Kansas and highlight the importance of the credit.

Commented the editorial, "Wind energy, a relatively new industry in the state, has ...

Read more

With stable tax policy, wind industry breathes new life into small Iowa town

To understand the impact of wind power’s key federal Production Tax Credit (PTC), Congress need look no further than the small town of Newton, Iowa.

Manufacturing roots run deep in Newton, which was once home to Maytag appliances. A few years ago, the Maytag plant closed, leaving some 3,000 people out of work and sending economic shock waves through the town of 16,000.

Thankfully, however, a new manufacturing industry—wind power—soon came to town. The story of Newton, as told by TPI Composites CEO Steve Lockard, and how the PTC creates jobs in such American towns across the country, is the subject of the ...

Read more

"Low, stable tax rates generate jobs and economic growth. This idea has been the bedrock of conservative economic ideology for decades. One industry that represents this essential conservative principle is U.S. wind energy."

That's Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa), who explained in a Politico op-ed yesterday why he believes the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) should be extended. The PTC will expire at the end of this year under current law, but has already effectively expired for manufacturers of wind turbines and their components, items that require lead time to produce.

Some highlights of Rep. King's article:

- The PTC has driven "as much as $20 billion a year" of ...

Read more

An op-ed posted yesterday at Forbes.com by Larry Bell takes some wild swings at wind power and its tax incentives. Here are the facts from our perspective:

The PTC and the temporary Treasury cash payments in lieu of the PTC preserved thousands of American jobs during the economic meltdown. This issue is discussed in detail here. Briefly, the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), the key incentive that has helped the companies that build wind farms to attract investment in their projects, lost its value during the meltdown, because many companies had no revenue and no tax liability against which to take the ...

Read more

With thousands of wind-energy jobs in Colorado and Kansas hanging in the balance, U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) are making a bipartisan push to extend the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit that is currently set to expire at the end of this year, but has already effectively expired for wind turbine and component manufacturers.

The two Senators have filed an amendment that would extend PTC for one year to a bill currently under debate in the U.S. Senate. The extension of the wind energy PTC is fully paid for. Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) is a cosponsor of the amendment. (The PTC is not included in the payroll tax legislation currently being finalized by a joint House-Senate conference committee.

Read more

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) yesterday wrote members of the Congressional conference committee on the payroll tax bill, saying "As you draft legislation to address the expiring payroll tax cut and other provisions, I urge you to include an extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC), currently set to expire at the end of this year."

Gov. Fallin joins fellow Republican governors Terry Branstad of Iowa and Sam Brownback of Kansas, who have also written to the conferees in support of a PTC extension (see "Republican governors push for PTC extension; Senators express support," February 2, 2012).

Added Gov. Fallin, "The wind energy sector is an American ...

Read more

Staples, Starbucks, Nike, Levi Strauss & Co., Campbell Soup, Yahoo and other large corporate purchasers of renewable energy delivered a letter today to Congressional leadership asking for an extension of the wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), currently scheduled to expire at the end of this year, but effectively expiring now for U.S. manufacturers.

The letter calls on Congress to include an extension of the PTC in pending payroll tax-cut extension legislation. Failing to extend the incentive would immediately threaten over 400 wind manufacturing facilities in 43 states that risk layoffs and shutdowns for lack of orders.

The letter was signed by 15 ...

Read more

Just hours ago, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota addressed Congress with a clear directive for his colleagues in the Senate: extend the renewable energy production tax credit.  The Senator hit all the key reasons why the Senate needs to take action immediately:  tens of thousands of American manufacturing jobs on the line, the long timeline necessary for orders, and energy independence

The impacts of congressional inaction are real for Minnesota, and Sen. Franken shared the story of Terry and Janet Carlson from Parkers Prairie Minnesota:

“[Their] family believes in renewable energy and the benefits it can provide to [the] localcommunity. Besides being environmentally friendly, wind energy has proved to be a great economic ...

Read more