Wind turbines in Iowa, which leads the country in wind energy consumption.Photo: Theodore ScottCross-posted from Midwest Energy News.
Minnesota wind developer Dan Juhl has seen the scenario before.
The wind production tax credit — seen as a key incentive to bringing new wind energy projects online — nears its expiration date, expires without legislative action, and then comes barreling back, reviving the industry after a period of stagnation.
It’s a sequence of events that has played out three times in the last decade, most recently in 2003, and is unfolding again today. The current tax credit, which provides developers with 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity produced from utility-scale wind turbines, is set to expire at the end of 2012.
Industry officials have called for a long-term extension, but so far no action has been taken. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) recently said he was “not confident” it would pass given the mood in Washington, and wind energy proponents said they would not hazard to guess at its fate.
You would think that Juhl, the chairman and chief executive at Juhl Win... Read more
