The U.S. Senate Finance Committee passed a bill extending the production tax credit (PTC) for wind energy for one year by a 19-5 vote. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the committee, also proposed changing requirements so wind projects have to start construction, not begin operation, by the end of 2013 in order to qualify, according to Bloomberg.
The committee passed a package of tax cuts called “extenders” that included the wind PTC, as well as an extension of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which provides incentives for offshore and community wind projects.
“We applaud the committee for this act of leadership to move critical policies forward in a difficult environment,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. “This was an extremely important step to provide critical certainty to keep people at work in wind energy manufacturing and construction.”
The PTC provides an income tax credit of 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour for the production of electricity from utility-scale turbines during the first 10 years of electricity production. It is set to expire on Dec. 31.
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