The U.S House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee held on June 1 a full committee oversight hearing on “American Energy Initiative: Identifying Roadblocks to Wind and Solar Energy on Public Lands and Waters, Part II – The Wind and Solar Industry Perspective.”
The hearing focused on the challenges of siting renewable projects on public land.
Representatives from various industry participants presented testimony, including from the American Wind Energy Association, Cape Wind Associates, Offshore Wind Development Coalition, and the Center for Energy Policy and Finance of Stanford University.
While permitting was the chief issue, Roby Roberts of AWEA (and a Horizon Wind official) commented that the greatest hurdle facing the wind energy sector currently
is the lack of a consistent and long-term federal policy to support renewable energy. Despite bipartisan support, tax credits for wind and other forms of renewable energy have been on-again, off-again. The production tax credit, which is the key existing federal tax incentive for wind energy development, expires at the end of 2012. Failure to extend this incentive will result in a large tax increase on wind energy developers that will be reflected in the cost of wind power, making it less competitive with competing sources that also receive federal incentives. We request that Congress block this tax increase and extend the production tax credit for wind energy this year. Given lead times for project development, it is important to act now to avoid a lull in development post-2012. Business decisions for 2013 are already being made.
The hearing followed the May 13 Full Committee Oversight Hearing on “American Energy Initiative: Identifying Roadblocks to Wind and Solar Energy on Public Lands and Waters, Part I – Department of Interior Officials”.
