Fiscal fiasco bright spot: 2013 will be a huge year for wind power

[one...two...tree 2,762]

You have probably heard by now that Congress has voted through a bill that will avert the absurdly named “fiscal cliff.” I’ll leave it to other blogs to get into the details. (Suzy Khimm has a nice rundown.) I’ll also leave it to others to lament the absurd way in which this country is governed. I just want to focus on one bright spot that hasn’t gotten much coverage.

Part of the bill was a one-year extension of several stimulus tax credits. Among them was the production tax credit (PTC) that is so crucial to the wind industry and for which it has been fighting over the past year.

One-year extensions are, admittedly, an absurd way to run energy policy. And yes, there are many ways the PTC could be improved — most notably by transforming it into a system of cash grants. Yes, this fight will reoccur and we’ll probably end up with something like the five-year phaseout of the PTC proposed by the (rather hapless) American Wind Energy Association.

Nonetheless, there’s more here than meets the eye. To see why, we have to back up a bit.

In August, the Senate Finance Committee passed a tax-extenders billthat would extend some temporary tax credits and phase out others. That bill called for extending the PTC, but also altering it in a crucial way, in response to lobbying from wind (and, oddly enough, biomass) companies.

Traditionally, PTC money is available to a wind project only once it is up and running, putting electricity on the wires. That’s why so many wind projects raced to finish in 2012, when it looked like the PTC would expire. The Finance Committee bill changed the PTC so that the money would be available to any wind project that breaks ground in the calendar year. That allows projects to be built (and financed) over longer periods of time without worrying about losing the tax incentive. I’ve heard informal estimates that one year of this kind of PTC is worth two or three years of the conventional PTC.

And it’s the Finance Committee’s version that ended up in the Senate compromise bill the House grudgingly passed last night. So that’s the PTC in effect for 2013.

This means wind developers can lock in PTC money if they break ground in 2013, but it’s highly uncertain whether that money will be available in 2014. That adds up to a huge incentive to start projects this year.

So, whatever the long-term fate of energy policy generally or the wind industry specifically, 2013 is shaping up to be a boom year for wind in the U.S.

http://grist.org/climate-energy/fiscal-fiasco-bright-spot-2013-will-be-a-huge-year-for-wind/

[SMOKE 1,426]

i'm good with it. they want to put 2 windmills on my land. thats a check to me every month-forever. they paided me $5000 to cut off a 25'x 25' square off the south west corner, to make the road wider around the turn on the service route for the ones already up. GO GREEN BABY!!

[^_^ 5,021]

i'm good with it. they want to put 2 windmills on my land. thats a check to me every month-forever. they paided me $5000 to cut off a 25'x 25' square off the south west corner, to make the road wider around the turn on the service route for the ones already up. GO GREEN BABY!!

Nice. You and Steven can have a bromance now.

[SMOKE 1,426]

GREEN ENERGY

[natty bumppo 297]

i'm good with it. they want to put 2 windmills on my land. thats a check to me every month-forever. they paided me $5000 to cut off a 25'x 25' square off the south west corner, to make the road wider around the turn on the service route for the ones already up. GO GREEN BABY!!

don't forget the other windmill benefit ... free lunch !!!!

[^_^ 5,021]

GREEN ENERGY

I see you have the enviroweirdo mating call down pat. I always knew you were a quick learner no matter what everyone else said.

[Karee 4,190]

[quote name=' timestamp='1357147875' post='5898663]

I see you have the enviroweirdo mating call down pat. I always knew you were a quick learner no matter what everyone else said.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

You have probably heard by now that Congress has voted through a bill that will avert the absurdly named "fiscal cliff." I'll leave it to other blogs to get into the details. (Suzy Khimm has a nice rundown.) I'll also leave it to others to lament the absurd way in which this country is governed. I just want to focus on one bright spot that hasn't gotten much coverage.

Part of the bill was a one-year extension of several stimulus tax credits. Among them was the production tax credit (PTC) that is so crucial to the wind industry and for which it has been fighting over the past year.

One-year extensions are, admittedly, an absurd way to run energy policy. And yes, there are many ways the PTC could be improved — most notably by transforming it into a system of cash grants. Yes, this fight will reoccur and we'll probably end up with something like the five-year phaseout of the PTC proposed by the (rather hapless) American Wind Energy Association.

Nonetheless, there's more here than meets the eye. To see why, we have to back up a bit.

In August, the Senate Finance Committee passed a tax-extenders billthat would extend some temporary tax credits and phase out others. That bill called for extending the PTC, but also altering it in a crucial way, in response to lobbying from wind (and, oddly enough, biomass) companies.

Traditionally, PTC money is available to a wind project only once it is up and running, putting electricity on the wires. That's why so many wind projects raced to finish in 2012, when it looked like the PTC would expire. The Finance Committee bill changed the PTC so that the money would be available to any wind project that breaks ground in the calendar year. That allows projects to be built (and financed) over longer periods of time without worrying about losing the tax incentive. I've heard informal estimates that one year of this kind of PTC is worth two or three years of the conventional PTC.

And it's the Finance Committee's version that ended up in the Senate compromise bill the House grudgingly passed last night. So that's the PTC in effect for 2013.

This means wind developers can lock in PTC money if they break ground in 2013, but it's highly uncertain whether that money will be available in 2014. That adds up to a huge incentive to start projects this year.

So, whatever the long-term fate of energy policy generally or the wind industry specifically, 2013 is shaping up to be a boom year for wind in the U.S.

http://grist.org/cli...-year-for-wind/

Don Quixote would be proud

[SMOKE 1,426]

[quote name=' timestamp='1357147875' post='5898663]

I see you have the enviroweirdo mating call down pat. I always knew you were a quick learner no matter what everyone else said.

i bet you know my response to everyone else too.

[^_^ 5,021]

i bet you know my response to everyone else too.

i'm not green. i don't even recycle anymore (true story).

[SMOKE 1,426]

[quote name=' timestamp='1357153080' post='5898845]

i'm not green. i don't even recycle anymore (true story).

me either. the eviro freaks in my neighborhood hate me. i fire up the smoker to cook hotdogs when they have a tree hugging party.

[^_^ 5,021]

me either. the eviro freaks in my neighborhood hate me. i fire up the smoker to cook hotdogs when they have a tree hugging party.

enviro freaks, with an s? as in plural? in oklahoma?

another stereotype shattered.

[natty bumppo 297]

[quote name=' timestamp='1357157474' post='5898992]

enviro freaks, with an s? as in plural? in oklahoma?

another stereotype shattered.

california transplants ....

[^_^ 5,021]

california transplants ....

ha.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

[quote name=' timestamp='1357153080' post='5898845]

i'm not green. i don't even recycle anymore (true story).

I recycle everything. They don't charge for recycling at the dump, so everything goes into the recycle dumpster. So far, either nobody has noticed, or nobody is complaining.