 |
||
|
||
|
Failure to Extend Credit Means Job Losses, Development Slowdown Washington, DC – The wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) will expire at the end of next month without being extended, causing yet another damaging "boom-and-bust" cycle for the industry, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today. Congressional leaders announced last night that they were shelving the wide-ranging energy bill until next year over unresolved regional and partisan disagreements. A three-year PTC extension had been included in the energy bill (HR6). The extension, which enjoys strong bipartisan support, would have supported continued development of utility-scale wind energy into 2004 and beyond, on the heels of one of the best years ever for the industry. Initial estimates by AWEA are that some 1,600 megawatts (MW) of new wind energy generating capacity will have come online in 2003 in the U.S., bringing clean power, jobs, and economic development to a cumulative total of 30 states. "It is impossible for the U.S. wind industry to maintain a steady growth rate in the present climate of uncertainty," said AWEA executive director Randall Swisher. "Failure to extend the PTC means that contracts are put on hold, workers are laid off, and the momentum that had built up this year in the U.S. wind energy market is once again brought to a halt." The PTC has been extended twice over the past five years, in 1999 and again in 2001, but each time Congress has allowed the credit to expire before acting, and then approved only short-term extensions of two-and-a-half or two years. The PTC provides a 1.5 cent per kilowatt-hour credit (adjusted for inflation) for electricity generated from wind, and is important to financing wind projects. It is currently set to expire December 31, 2003. The timeline for gaining an extension is uncertain. Republican leaders have decided that energy tax items -- including the PTC -- should not be included in the stop-gap measure to extend expiring tax credits until mid-2004 that has already been approved by the House and is now under consideration in the Senate. They say such items should be included in an energy bill and they will take up the energy legislation again next year. The impact of the failure to extend the PTC is already being felt. In North Dakota, a state that had enthusiastically welcomed the new jobs created by the budding wind energy industry, over half of the employees at West Fargo-based DMI Industries, a manufacturer of wind turbine towers, have been laid off just prior to the holidays. In Texas, Lone Star Transportation of Fort Worth, Tex., would lose as much as $ 1.5 million in revenue per month due to the PTC delay. In 2002, a full 20% of Lone Star company revenues came from wind energy by trucking wind turbine blades, towers, generating units and other equipment to development sites. Nationwide, thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity could be lost due to the delay in securing an extension. "Despite the gridlock in Congress over the energy bill, we are gratified by the support provided by members on both sides of the aisle and in both houses for an extension of the wind energy PTC, and we look forward to working with them to secure a PTC extension as soon as possible," said AWEA legislative director Jaime Steve. "Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) provided strong leadership for its inclusion in the bill. We also thank other members of Congress who supported the PTC in the energy bill , including Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.), Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) , Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), and Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.)." The energy bill would also have provided, for the first time, a small wind turbine investment credit to benefit homeowners or small businesses that elect to use wind systems to meet all or part of their electricity needs. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Tom Cole (R-Ok.) played leadership roles in promoting the small wind turbine credit. Continued development of clean, renewable, domestic wind energy resources is vital to efforts to diversify America’s energy supply. The PTC is needed to provide the necessary certainty to the wind energy industry to continue wind energy development. As of October 2003, the U.S. had 5,325.7 MW of wind energy online producing power for more than 1.3 million American households. ### AWEA, formed in 1974, is the national trade association of the U.S. wind energy industry. The association’s membership includes turbine manufacturers, wind project developers, utilities, academicians, and interested individuals. More information on wind energy is available at the AWEA web site: www.awea.org |
||
©
2003 by the American Wind Energy Association. |
