Congress Whacks wind subsidies (Loss of tax credit may stall energy projects)
Sunjournal Article / www.sunjournal.com
by Julie Webnau; Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO - The wind industry is predicting massive layoffs and stalled or abandoned projects after a deal to renew a tax credit for wind production failed Thursday in Washington.
The move is expected to have major ramifications in states such as Illinois, where 13,892 megawatts of wind projects-enough to power 3.3 million homes per year-wait to be connected to the electric grid. Many of those projects will be abandoned or significantly delayed without federal subsidies.
Illinois is home to more than 150 companies that support wind industry. At least 67 of those companies make turbines or components for wind farms. And Chicago is the U.S. headquarters to more than a dozen major wind companies who wanted to take advantage of powerful midwestern winds and the fact wind power could be fed into the electric grid.
Industry lobbyists fought hard to strike a deal this week in Washington that would have included an extension of the production tax credit-which provides an income tax credit of 2.2 cents/kilowatt-hour for the production of electricity from wind turbines.
Wind proponents tried to tuck the tax credit extension in legislation aimed at extending payroll tax cuts, but congressional leaders did not include it in that bill. There is still a possibility the extension for wind power tax credits could come through as a stand-alone bill or tied to other legislation. But Washington insiders say that is unlikely to happen before the election in November.
By then, the wind industry says it will be too late to avoid massive layoffs and project delays since wind projects slated for 2013 should be traveling their way down the supply chain now.
The tax credit doesn't expire until the end of this year. But in order for developers to receive it, they must have their turbines up and running before year's end.
That deadline has 2012 shaping up to be a banner year, as wind industry developers race to complete projects. Few projects are slated for 2013. Developers say they either pushed projects back to 2012, or stalled those slated for 2013 because of the uncertainty over the tax credit.
Industry consultants say new capacity is likely to return to lows this country hasn't experienced since 2004. Contributing to the bleak outlook for 2013: Competition from cheap natural gas and anemic demand for power as the economic recovery struggles to pick up steam.
"We simply have not seen that strong demand for new power generation," said Daniel Shreve, director and partner of MAKE Consulting, a wind energy consultancy with an office in Chicago. "In the last four to five years, despite the fact that you haven't seen tremendous load growth, new power generation is being added. Reserve margins have grown. We're oversubscribed."
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Comment
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Comment by alice mckay barnett on February 18, 2012 at 10:46am
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no demand without mandates. mmmmmmm it is about the subsidies.
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Comment by freemont tibbetts on February 18, 2012 at 7:26am
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Hello to Patriot Renewables Wind Power. Will this put a stop to your wind energy project in town of Dixfield ? Or do you have our tax subsidies $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ IN YOUR BIG FAT WALLET ALL READY ? Freemont Tibbetts 37, Bruce Tibbetts Dixfield Maine. P.O. Box 104. Tel 202-562-7168.
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Comment by Harrison Roper on February 17, 2012 at 4:11pm
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I don't feel bad for the wind promoters. If their projects could pay for themselves without subsidies, it would not matter. I say good riddance. As to the existing turbines, they will still have the problem of convincing the grid to purchase their irregular, skittery power.
Harrison Roper Houlton/Danforth
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Comment by Hart Daley on February 17, 2012 at 3:53pm
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I apologize for any typos. I typed this directly from the Sunjournal newspaper. Would like to hear any comments
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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