Understanding Industrial Wind’s Production Tax Credit (Part II: 2020 Status)

By -- August 18, 2020 4 Comments

“In recent years, wind energy development costs have dropped while capacity factors increased dramatically. As such, the benefit to developers of the adjusted PTC is staggering.”

Wind power’s Production Tax Credit (PTC) has not expired as of 2020. And there is no certainty that it will ever be allowed to expire.

Under the phase-out, 2019 was supposed to be the last year wind projects could qualify for the PTC. Projects that started construction in 2019 and are placed in service within four years would earn 40% of the PTC or 1¢/kwh during the first 10-years of operation. But during the final hours before the December 2019 holiday break, Congress voted for a 1-year extension of the PTC through to 2020 and increased its value to 60% or 1.5¢/kwh.

Projects that started construction in 2019 would still earn the 40% PTC.…

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Understanding Industrial Wind’s Production Tax Credit (Part I: Introduction)

By -- August 17, 2020 9 Comments

“… the production tax credit will cost taxpayers $4.3 billion in 2021 and a cumulative $33.8 billion in the ten-year period from 2020 to 2029. After nearly 30 years, the wind industry’s reliance on the PTC has grown as has its cost to US taxpayers.”

The Production Tax Credit (PTC), first established under the Energy Policy Act of 1992, is a driving force for constructing otherwise uneconomic industrial wind turbines for electric generation. A per-kilowatt-hour credit, initially set at a lucrative 1.5¢, adjusted annually for inflation is 2.5¢ today.

The credit covers the first ten years of wind-turbine generation. The monetization occurs when wind developers sell the tax credits to federal tax-owing corporations, which offsets a significant percentage of the project’s capital costs.

Depending on actual power generation, and with very low marginal costs, wind energy can be sold at very low, and even negative, prices, ruining the economics of traditional power generation.…

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Inferior, Subsidized Energy Feels the Pain

By -- May 11, 2020 1 Comment

Paul Gaynor, CEO of Longroad Energy, a utility-scale wind and solar developer, recently said, “Pre-pandemic, there were great dreams and aspirations for a record-setting year.” Indeed, the renewable industry was well on its way this year to a new record: the $9 billion subsidy mark. Mr. Gaynor’s dreams and those of the industry are a burden to the rest of us.

Without the subsidies, it is almost certain [that wind and solar] would be only a niche industry, supplying perhaps a percent or two of our power, rather than the 26% it is currently supplying in Texas.

For the first time last year, electricity produced from wind in Texas almost equaled the amount produced from coal. This year, it appears as if wind is going to blow coal away.

Last year, each source produced about 20% of the electricity used on the grid.…

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MasterResource in the News (problems of wind power)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 24, 2019 1 Comment

“MasterResource.org is where the ‘grassroots’ anti-wind power movement that Bradley works tirelessly to promote merges with the fossil fuel industry’s astroturf campaign against renewable energy.” (Dave Anderson, Energy and Policy Institute, April 17, 2019)

Perhaps I am a tireless worker. But no, the pushback against industrial wind turbines is not from “astroturf” but from on-the-spot, victimized people. In this sense, MasterResource comes from the grassroots, not the tree tops.

Mr. Anderson’s writeup, “Koch-backed blog defends Trump’s false claim about windmills & cancer,” takes a look at this site with this background:

MasterResource.org is a project of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), a group that together with its advocacy arm the American Energy Alliance has received millions of dollars from the Koch network, as well as money from the coal, oil and gas industries.

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Sierra Club on John Droz, Jr. “A Man to Watch” (we agree!)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- May 9, 2018 2 Comments Continue Reading

Attack on Tom Stacy: “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished” (anti-wind effort smeared by crony environmentalist)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 11, 2018 4 Comments Continue Reading

Tribute for Twelve in the Energy/Climate Debate (Part I)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- January 4, 2018 8 Comments Continue Reading

Wind Cronyism at the Crossroads: Time to Weigh In

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- December 11, 2017 3 Comments Continue Reading

Wind PTC: Excessive Benefit Demands Repeal

By -- October 30, 2017 8 Comments Continue Reading

Wind News Update: The Failure of RGGI, Ohio Safety First (June 29, 2017)

By -- June 29, 2017 1 Comment Continue Reading