Anxiety over the fate of a soon-to-expire federal tax credit for wind farms has temporarily stalled the renewable energy sector’s growth inWhite County, its economic development director said.
White County is home to Meadow Lake Wind Farm, a commercial wind farm now operating 303 turbines with an installed 500 megawatt capacity.
Its next phase — and at least one other wind project — have been put on hold, White County Economic Development executive director Connie Neininger said, as the companies await news about theproduction tax credit.
Unless Congress renews it by Dec. 31, the windfall of savings farm owners receive from the per-kilowatt-hour credit for energy generated by certain resources and sold during the taxable year will disappear.
“We have a couple other wind projects under the development phase at this time, but they’re basically put on hold to see what’s going to happen,” said Neininger, who spoke Friday in Indianapolis at a rally to advocate for the tax credit extension. Failure to extend the tax credit “could deter additional wind development,” she said.
The credit is worth 2.2 cents per kilowatt hour for wind and other renewable energy resource projects, according to the Department of Energy-funded Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. It came about in 1992 and has been updated and renewed several times.
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