New projects in the pipeline amount to more than $2 billion in business, said AWEA executive director Randall Swisher, and they are ready to provide millions of dollars of badly needed tax revenues and hundreds of skilled jobs to rural counties around the nation, once Congress renews the wind energy production tax credit (PTC).
Swisher pointed to the Colorado Green Wind Project, a large wind farm installed last year in eastern Colorado, as an example of the benefits that wind energy development can bring to rural areas. In rural Prowers County, population and jobs had been falling for years. Since the Colorado Green Wind Project was built, a chain reaction of economic development has added jobs, royalty payments for the property owners, and sharply increased local and county tax revenues. Several construction companies were involved in the construction process, and the nearly 400 incoming workers boosted income for many local businesses.
The wind industry installed a near-record 1,687 megawatts (MW) in 2003, but most new wind-energy projects are on hold this year because of the uncertainty created by Congress's delay in renewing the tax incentive, AWEA reported. The industry has installed less than 30 MW of new capacity so far this year, and the trade group said it does not expect any more than 350 MW total in new projects by the end of the year.
If the wind industry were to consistently grow at a rate of 18 percent per year, six percent of the nation's electricity could be generated by wind power by the year 2020, resulting in more than $100 billion of investment. Over the last five years, U.S. wind capacity has expanded at an annual average rate of 28 percent, showing that the supply chain can ramp up quickly to meet the nations power needs. Without a PTC extension, however, AWEA asserts that the U.S. will likely see very few new installations this year.
