Congress has passed new legislation to provide a multi-year extension of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for small wind systems (100kW and below), and other clean energy technologies.
The new legislation included in the budget deal provides parity with solar energy’s tax extension passed into law at the end of 2015. Notably, the legislation reinstates projects installed in 2017, as well as extends both the business and residential ITC through 2021.
“This is an exceptionally important day for the distributed wind industry and we applaud champions like Reps. Reed, Thompson, Blumenauer, and Cole, Senators Carper, Heller, Wyden, Schumer, Bennet, Thune, Grassley and many others for making this fix happen,” stated Jennifer Jenkins, Executive Director of the Distributed Wind Energy Association (DWEA).
The bill, included in the budget deal, provides parity with solar energy’s tax extension passed into law at the end of 2015. Notably, the legislation reinstates projects installed in 2017, as well as extends both the business and residential ITC through 2021.
“With long-term federal policies on parity with solar, the U.S. distributed wind industry can finally refocus its efforts on cost reduction, technology improvement, and broad market adoption,” said Russell Tencer, DWEA Board President. “This will surely lead to thousands of new American jobs and much needed rural economic development throughout the country.”
“The last few years have been a struggle due to cheap solar imports and unbalanced federal tax policy. We are preparing to launch a breakthrough small wind turbine that cuts energy production costs in half, so a fix to the federal tax credit issue is very timely for us,” said Mike Bergey, CEO of small wind turbine manufacturer Bergey Windpower and past president of DWEA.
“We have aligned with local U.S. customers to generate significant business opportunities for Eocycle,” reported Richard Legault, CEO of the Canadian-based wind turbine manufacturer with offices in the U.S. “We’ve just been waiting for the ITC to get extended to invest in this fertile market.”
“Placing small wind on parity to solar for the Investment Tax Credit allows corporations as well as small businesses and farms in the heartland of our country to realize the monetary value of their natural renewable resources,” stated Ciel Caldwell President and Chief Operating Officer of Northern Power Systems. She continued, “This will also support the expansion of our United States operations as we continue to deliver reliable, technologically advanced turbines.”
“This type of support for distributed wind power grows America’s small businesses and supports the growth of U.S. manufacturing jobs. It also builds economic opportunity and energy self-sufficiency in rural towns from Maine to California,” noted Jenkins.
Since the end of 2015, the distributed wind industry has suffered many rounds of layoffs while waiting for the fix. “We are elated and ready to get back to work on the immense potential of the U.S. distributed wind market,” noted Tencer.
Many thanks are due to all of the bi-partisan sponsors of bills such as HR 1090, and S2256.
DWEA projects 30 GW of distributed wind capacity by 2030 and tens of thousands of new jobs with the right policies in place. DWEA’s white paper can be found here: http://distributedwind.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DWEA-Distributed-Wind-Vision.pdf
Filed Under: News, Policy
