Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

Two dozen investors with more than $800 billion in assets under management recently called for an immediate extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for renewable power. In a letter delivered to Congressional leaders, investors noted that this critical tax credit creates broad economic benefits, both for wind power producers and their suppliers across the nation. Several of the investors also met with Congressional staff to discuss their support for the credit.

“It is not just investors in wind turbine manufacturing or builders of wind farms that care about the Production Tax Credit. This measure supports the broader renewable power economy,” said Matthew ...

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Wind power and the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) have strongly benefited Colorado, says AWEA Siting Director John Anderson in an op-ed published in today's Glenwood Springs (Colo.) Post Independent.

According to Mr. Anderson, "Colorado wind power already supports up to 5,000 construction and maintenance jobs, and wind farm owners are paying $10 million a year in taxes to Colorado communities.

"In total, the American wind industry currently attracts up to $20 billion in private investment annually, all driven by the Production Tax Credit (PTC), and provides significant economic benefits through local tax revenue. Support from Colorado elected ...

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Wind power and renewable energy in general once again made themselves known among the top players on the power generation landscape last month: wind power and solar contributed every megawatt of new generating capacity that was installed in the U.S. during September, according to a monthly report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). But the good news for renewable energy only highlighted wind power’s complicated story of 2012.
 
The Energy Infrastructure Update for September 2012, produced by FERC’s Office of Energy Projects, reported that a total of 433 MW of new electric generating capacity came on line last month, with 300 MW coming from wind projects and 133 from new ...

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In an editorial published today, the Lincoln (Nebr.) Journal Star becomes the latest newspaper of dozens across the country endorsing an extension of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

Comments the Journal Star, "Just when it seemed that wind turbines would start sprouting on the Nebraska prairie in numbers equivalent to those in surrounding states, dysfunction in Congress threatens to pull the plug on progress."  The Cornhusker State, it notes, ranks fourth among the states in wind resource, but only 25th in installed wind capacity.

The Journal Star refers to the recent dedication of the 50-MW Broken ...

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Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik takes aim at criticisms of the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) in an article published yesterday, saying the "real goal" of those in competing energy industries who oppose it is to "is to tilt the playing field back toward the past, not the future."

Commented Mr. Hiltzik, "To hear business leaders and political candidates talk, proper industrial policy comprises only three elements: a fair tax system, a level playing field and 'certainty.' So why is it that all three are about to be thrown out the window as a sop to oil, gas and nuclear interests determined to fillet the wind-power industry?"

Mr. Hiltzik notes ...

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In an op-ed published in yesterday's edition of the Fort Collins Coloradoan, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), referring to layoffs recently announced by wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, says bluntly, "Nearly 300 workers in Brighton and Windsor — hard-working Coloradans — would still have their jobs had Congress actually done its work" on extending the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

With another 200 workers having been laid off in an earlier round of cuts, Mr. Bennet adds, " ... [I]nstead of bringing home hard-earned paychecks, families are finding it harder to buy groceries, put gas in their cars and pay their ...

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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), attending a Montana wind farm groundbreaking Thursday, said he believes the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) will be extended by Congress.

Mr. Baucus, whose committee in August endorsed a tax bill including a PTC extension, was quoted in the Billings Gazette as saying of the key incentive, "It will get extended, I think ... Nothing is ever 100 percent [certain], but I think it will."

At the groundbreaking, Mr. Baucus noted that property taxes from the wind farm will help to fund local schools and other projects, the article said.  ...

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An article in yesterday's edition of the Kearney (Neb.) Hub newspaper tells the story of what a single wind farm is doing for a community and state, and what's on the line as Congress considers whether to extend the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC).

The article lists the benefits resulting from the $145-million, 50-MW Broken Bow LLC project, dedicated this week and located about 9 miles from the Nebraska town of the same name:

"- The 14,000-acre wind farm will provide average annual tax revenues of approximately $600,000 over the next 25 years in property taxes and state income taxes.
- Local landowners will be ...

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In landmark renewable energy news for Alaska, the 17.6-MW Fire Island Wind Project is now on line and generating power, concluding another rather remarkable story in American wind power development.
 
The facility, jointly developed by Summit Power and owner Cook Inlet Region, Inc. (CIRI), is the largest wind project currently on line in the state. The wind farm is located on Fire Island in Cook Inlet, three miles west of Anchorage. Rural cooperative Chugach Electric Association (CEA), the largest electric utility in Alaska, will buy the output from the project.
 
In spite of its now pumping out electrons just like any other operating wind farm today, Fire Island has not been your typical modern U.S. wind project characterized by incremental progress and the ...

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Extending the federal wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) will save new manufacturing jobs in the industrial state of Ohio, according to the president of a company that makes industrial fasteners for wind turbines.

In an opinion article published in yesterday's Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, John W. Grabner of Cardinal Fastener, based in Bedford Heights, Ohio, notes that the Buckeye State led the nation in percentage growth of new wind farms last year, adding, "One reason for that spectacular growth is the fact that Ohio workers have the skills that wind energy manufacturing demands. Today, more than 4,000 people statewide are producing wind turbines and other components."
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