Laura DiMugno, 15 November 2012 (North American Windpower)
“While a one-year extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC) remains alive in an omnibus tax-extenders bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee in August, some policymakers say the incentive could ultimately be renewed in a different form…[S]ome members of Congress - including a handful of anti-renewables House conservatives - may seek to strip the provision from the legislation…[and] many Republican lawmakers would need to be assured that the incentive will eventually go away. “…[A] PTC phase-out…may be gaining some serious support…Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa…[and] a bipartisan group of governors - including Govs. Terry Branstad, R-Iowa; John Kitzhaber, D-Ore.; Sam Brownback, R-Kan.; and John Hickenlooper, D-Colo. - emphasized the importance of extending the PTC, as well as the economic benefits it would provide.”
click to enlarge“Because of the longer timeline needed to finance and build wind projects, the governors stressed, the industry might be better served by a multiyear phase-out than by a one-year extension…Brownback said he would like to see a three- or four-year phase-out of the tax credit but admitted that a one-year extension would probably be more realistic…Grassley said he also likes the idea and that he would be in favor of a gradual phase-out of about 20% per year. “Under the PTC-extension provision currently included in the tax-extenders bill, not only would the PTC be extended until Dec. 31, 2013, but the placed-in-service deadline would be changed to a start-of-construction deadline. In other words, projects would have to have started construction before Dec. 31, 2013, to receive the $0.022/kWh incentive…Ultimately, the fate of the PTC will depend on the priority given to the incentive as a part of measures taken to avoid the fiscal cliff…”
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