While we are talking about big wind farms:
From Oct. 5th:
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=docp_docid=1059069164
1B155Ep_docnum=1p_theme=gannetts_site=desmoinesregisterp_product=DMRB
Wind energy gets updraft as Bush OKs tax credit
Vinluan Frank
Staff
A MidAmerican Energy turbine project stalled when the incentive expired.
By FRANK VINLUAN
REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER
With the stroke of a pen, wind turbine projects nationwide were put back in
motion Monday, including a Mid-American Energy project designed to become
the largest in the country.
A tax bill President Bush signed into law during his visit to Des Moines
included the renewal of a tax credit for wind-generated energy.
MidAmerican welcomed the tax credit that will help finance its $323 million
wind farm in northern Iowa. But David Sokol, chief executive of MidAmerican
Holdings Co., said renewal of the credit is only a first step toward a
national energy policy. Passage of a national policy is necessary to secure
supplies and stabilize prices, Sokol said.
Without a national energy bill getting through the Congress and signed by
the president, we're only going to see prices get worse and reliability get
worse, he said.
The production tax credit offers utilities a 1.5-cent-per-kilowatt-hour
credit for wind-generated electricity, which now costs more to produce than
power from coal or natural gas. The American Wind Energy Association and
many utilities have said the credit is necessary to finance large-scale wind
projects. Following the credit's expiration at the end of 2003, construction
plans for MidAmerican's project and dozens of others nationwide halted.
For MidAmerican, the tax credit will mean $15 million to $17 million a year
for 10 years.
The tax credit was not considered controversial but was attached to a broad
energy bill that stalled in Congress. Sokol said although it is important
the tax credit was renewed separately, uncertainty about the rest of the
energy bill contributes to higher energy prices.
As an example, Sokol said that a part of the bill that proposes a natural
gas pipeline from Alaska would ease supply concerns that are driving up
prices.
Iowa Department of Natural Resources Energy Analyst Jennifer Moehlmann
acknowledged that energy policy influences some projects. For example, some
utilities, including MidAmerican, did not want to proceed with a wind farm
until the credit was renewed. But she said other issues have a stronger pull
on energy prices.
The major factors influencing the high prices today are simply the
imbalance of supply and demand and world geopolitics, more than the lack of
an energy policy, she said.
With supplies remaining tight, Moehlmann said demand could be curbed by
increasing energy efficiency and using renewable sources. Iowa already
requires investor-owned utilities to obtain at least 2 percent of their
electricity from renewable sources. Completion of the wind farm would bring
renewable energy to 12 percent of MidAmerican's total energy portfolio in
Iowa.
David Osterberg, executive director of nonprofit research group The Iowa
Policy Project, put some of the blame for high natural gas prices on
utilities themselves. Many utilities are building new power plants fired by
natural gas. Those plants take natural gas from the market, which drives up
prices, he said.
Osterberg said more incentives are needed to support renewable energy. He
said he wants the tax credit to extend beyond one year. He also advocates
raising the renewable energy requirement to 20 percent, which would boost
demand for wind power and support wind projects.
Without having somebody ready and able to buy the renewable energy
provided, you may not see that (turbine) built, he said.
Reporter Frank Vinluan can be reached at (515) 284-8211 or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
MidAmerican wind project
* Located at two northern Iowa sites, one in Buena Vista and Sac counties,
the other in Wright and Hamilton counties. The Buena Vista is scheduled to
come on line by year's end, and the other by next summer.
* The project will create 250 construction jobs and 20 operations jobs.
* It will have 207 total wind turbines.
* It will produce 310.5 megawatts, enough to power about 85,000 homes.
Photo_By: ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
Power line: The renewal of a tax credit for wind-energy production on Monday
is expected to bring new life to dozens of stalled wind farm projects
nationwide. Another wind farm, above, is already operational near Alta.
What is the production tax credit?
The credit grants a 1.5-cent-per-kilowatt-hour tax credit for electricity
generated by wind turbines built this year. The one-year credit will be
adjusted annually for inflation. It will also be extended retroactively to
Dec. 31, 2003, when the previous credit expired.
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