No renewable energy tax incentives in new economic stimulus package - bad for wind sector

The economic stimulus package agreement will not include any incentives for energy and more importantly – an extension of the renewable Production Tax Credit (PTC) set to expire at the end of 2008, according to Frank Maisano, an energy policy expert at Bracewell & Guiliani lawfirm in Washington DC.

While Congress has never let the tax credit lapse, the uncertainty of no extension often has a chilling impact on wind projects moving towards development, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).

"AWEA estimates that the slowdown in the wind industry from a failure to extend the renewable tax incentives will place 75,000 jobs at risk and undercut a singular bright spot in the American economy - the booming renewable electricity sector that is creating tens of thousands of manufacturing and construction jobs annually," Maisano writes in his weekly energy briefing bulletin.

Last year, the wind industry saw more than $20 billion in investment in renewable electricity in the U.S. Without a quick extension of the PTC, investors are already starting to hold back decisions regarding wind and solar power projects that will not come on line until next year, he adds.

 AWEA has a great chart (click here)  that shows the impacts in the years when the PTC expires since 1999.

- David Adams

 

Comments

[Tom Gray]

Thanks, David. FYI we have just released results of a study indicating that 116,000 jobs (76,000 in wind, 40,000 in solar) are at risk if an extension of the tax credits is delayed. More info at www.awea.org/newsroom . The Senate is scheduled to vote on Wednesday or Thursday ...

Regards,
Thomas O. Gray
American Wind Energy Association
www.powerofwind.org
www.awea.org

[paminator]

"Without a quick extension of the PTC, investors are already starting to hold back decisions regarding wind and solar power projects that will not come on line until next year, he adds."

This statement and the graph in the linked article at AWEA provide convincing evidence that even large-scale wind generation is not economically viable without the production tax credit. The comment above lumps solar into the same situation.

Also in the linked article the author reports that 5244 MW of wind generation can supply power to 1.5 million homes, but leaves out the fact that only about 1350 MW of generation using coal, gas or nuclear could supply that same number of homes. The difference is due to the approximately 25% availability rate of wind turbines, because the wind varies.

[frank]

Coal, oil, and gas wouldn't be economically viable either if they didn't receive billions in subsidies and they had to use true cost accounting for the attendant environmental and health effects. Nuclear wouldn't either if they had to insure themselves against catastrophic losses instead of getting a pass from Congress.