The slowdown in the wind industry due to the imminent expiration of a key tax credit is spreading beyond manufacturers of turbines. From Reuters:

Kaydon Corp, a maker of specialty ball bearings for wind turbines, said it would shut a South Carolina plant and record a charge of $47 million to $52 million due to the impending expiration of a renewable energy tax credit and weak markets.

The renewable energy production tax credit, which expires at the end of this year, provides a tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced. …

“(While) wind energy will be a viable market in the long term, it will be challenged by continued regulatory uncertainty in the United States, including the impending expiration of the Production Tax Credit and a weak global economy,” Chief Executive James O’Leary said in a statement.

If the credit expires — as Mitt Romney would like it to — the wind industry estimates that 37,000 jobs could be lost. Many are already gone.