Governors' Wind Energy Coalition

The chairman and vice chairman, as well as the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition’s former chairmen, sent a letter to House and Senate leadership today urging Congress to approve a multi-year extension of the production tax credit and investment tax credit as soon as possible. A two-year PTC and ITC extension is included in the bipartisan Senate EXPIRE Act. The governors said:

“Our states are national leaders in wind power. Today, 26 percent of South Dakota’s power generation comes from wind. In Washington State, developers added 2,800 megawatts of wind energy between 2001-2012… Oregon generates over 12 percent of its electricity from wind…   In Iowa, where 27 percent of the state’s electricity generation comes from wind, MidAmerican Energy made the largest capital investment in the state’s history — building a wind farm that will add over $2 billion to Iowa’s economy.”

“These achievements are directly attributable to the PTC — a successful federal policy that, along with supportive state policies, continues to drive private investment in our states. [I]n states that produce at least 7 percent of their electricity from wind, electricity prices have decreased over the last 5 years, while all other states have seen their electricity prices increase by nearly 8 percent.”

“Congress has a history of supporting the domestic energy sector through a variety of public policies… The PTC and the ITC have proven to be an excellent return on the taxpayers’ dollar. We urge you to seek its inclusion in an end-of-year tax extenders package.”

While there have been several PTC tax extender approaches suggested in the last few days, the Governors have not taken a position on any of those suggestions.

PTC-ITC letter