The U.S. Senate Finance Committee passed a one-year extension of the Production Tax Credit for the domestic wind industry through its Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012, which also included the modification of other credit provisions for the renewables and energy efficiency sector.

The approved act, which passed on a bipartisan vote of 19-5, includes a package of more than $205 billion in tax cut extensions for families and businesses. The PTC extension will cost $3.3 billion.

Current law states that in addition to wind power, electricity produced from closed-loop biomass, open-loop biomass, geothermal, small irrigation, hydropower, landfill gas, waste-to-energy, and marine renewable facilities will be eligible for a production tax credit for electricity produced over a ten-year period, while facilities producing electricity from solar facilities are eligible to take a 30 percent investment tax credit in the year that the facility is placed-in-service.

The move garnered praises for the committee, including the White House and several renewable energy companies and organizations.

“We applaud the bipartisan leadership showcased today in the Finance Committee and urge the rest of Congress to follow the Committee’s lead as expeditiously as possible,” the White House announcement said.

They add that renewing the production tax credit has been a top priority for President Obama, as he views the American wind industry as “an American success story,” with the industry flourishing under the tax credit.

“Today, we have enough wind capacity to power 10 million homes across the country. In 2011, which was a banner year for the industry, nearly one-third of all new power capacity in the United States came from wind,” the announcement continued.

Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association, praised the move as “an act of leadership” to move “critical policies forward in a difficult environment.” “This was an extremely important step to provide critical certainty to keep people at work in wind energy manufacturing and construction,” she said.

The association says the tax credit drives up to $20 billion a year of private investment into U.S. wind farms, creating demand that allows U.S. manufacturing to compete in a global market. Citing data from Navigant Consulting, 37,000 jobs will be lost by early 2013 if Congress lets the PTC expire at the end of this year. – EcoSeed Staff

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