A little over a year ago, the U.S. Wind Energy agreed to let its production tax credit lapse in 2020. Accord to representatives of the Washington-based American Wind Energy Association, the tax credits are now needed for the industry to maintain its cost advantage against competitive sources such as solar and natural gas. Citing President Donald Trump’s import tariffs on steel and other wind farm components, industry representatives claim that construction costs for on and offshore wind farms have risen by 28%. Wind Energy Association has indicated that it will lobby for the investment tax credit for wind energy to… Read more
Tag: wind power
U.S. Wind Projects Triple in 2015
In 2015, the United States added about 3,600 megawatts of wind power capacity in the first nine months. This addition is almost triple the amount from a year earlier and is attributed to private sector businesses and local governments moving to lineup their own supplies of electricity. The growth was driven largely by private companies who are now joining utilities which have traditionally been the largest developers of wind energy projects. Amazon, Hewlett Packard and the City of Washington D.C. all signed contracts in the third quarter of 2015 to purchase wind power. In addition, Microsoft and Wal-Mart have announced… Read more