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January 3, 2013

Feds extend wind tax credit in cliff deal

Wind projects will have another year to qualify for federal tax credits as part of the fiscal cliff deal reached in Congress on Tuesday.

Paul Gaynor, CEO of wind power developer First Wind, told The Boston Globe that ending those credits by their previous deadline of 2012 "would have made 2013 a very dreary" year for new wind developments.

First Wind developed and operates four of the nine wind farms currently operating in Maine. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Maine's wind power generation was up 31% in 2012, as of October, compared to the same period in 2011. Across New England, wind power generation (measured in megawatt hours) was up 65.6%.

The credits extended Tuesday include a payment of 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour for a wind farm's first 10 years of production, in an effort to keep wind power competitive with electricity generated by natural gas, which saw prices plummet through 2012.

Another credit pays 30% of costs for small, community wind farms and offshore wind projects.

The American Wind Energy Association estimated that the extension of credits for wind projects started in 2013 will save around 37,000 jobs nationwide.

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