NO GLIDE PATH FOR WIND

Wind Industry Should Mull Tax Credit Phase-Out, Baucus Says
Kathleen Hunter, march 20, 2012 (Bloomberg News)

"…U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said… that phasing out the [wind industry’s] tax credit might be the most realistic way to keep it from expiring altogether at the end of the year…[The industry hasn’t endorsed a phase-out, American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode said, and a full one-year extension in the first part of this year remains its top priority]…

"The production tax credit provides an incentive for installation of wind turbines, based on the number of kilowatt- hours generated. For wind, the credit will cost the government $1.3 billion in fiscal 2012…Similar credits are available for energy produced from other renewable sources…Given the tight budget outlook, the idea of phasing out the wind credit rather than extending it has drawn support from Republican senators."

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[Senator John Thune, R-SD:] “If you can demonstrate a glide path to getting where you don’t need the credit any more, phasing it out over time, I think it’s going to be a lot more palatable politically to try to get an approach like that through.”

[Senator Kent Conrad, D-ND:] “We are making great progress at getting wind to be almost viable without help, but we’re not there yet…” [and Senator Ben Cardin, D-MD:] “It would be, I think, ill-advised to start talking about a finite policy on wind without knowing how it affects the other sources of energy…So I’m for a straight extension. I think that gives us the time to try to come up with a rational energy policy"