The wind production tax credit ended on January 1 without Congressional action, along with several other credits that affect various industries.
What has become an annual or semi-annual ritual – tax credits expire and Congress either enacts them last minute or revives them retroactively – is now uncertain. A tax reform proposal from Sen. Max Baucus (D – Mont.) eliminates most renewable energy subsides.
The production tax credit (PTC) of 2.3 cents per kilowatt hour is available for wind projects for 10 years that were under construction at the end of 2013. Any projects that start construction this year, so far, are ineligible.
Wind power has experienced a recent boom, growing from 1.3 percent of the nation’s electricity production in 2008 to 3.5 percent in 2012. But 2013 was a down year as uncertainty over federal support weighed on the industry.
