White House Supports Wind Energy

The wind energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) has been extended through the end of 2005 as part of a tax package signed by President Bush in October 2004. The PTC makes available a tax credit of 1.8 cents for each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by wind turbines. Although the PTC had expired at the end of 2003, the recent extension is retroactive to that point. More than 1,600 megawatts of wind generation capacity were installed in the U.S. in 2003, bringing the total capacity near 6,400 megawatts. “This year, a sharp drop in new installations is expected due to the absence of the incentive for nine months,” according to a press release from the American Wind Energy Association.