Wind industry asks for tax-cut extension

— The wind-energy industry wants Congress to extend a tax break it takes advantage of for six years, a time frame the industry said is long enough to cut costs and short enough to ease fears the credit will become a permanent part of the tax code.

The American Wind Energy Association, whose members include General Electric Co. and the U.S. unit of Siemens AG, offered the proposal Wednesday in a letter to U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and other members on the tax-writing panel.

For months, wind-energy companies have urged Congress to extend the so-called production tax credit, which is set to expire this month. The break shaves as much as a third of the costs to generate wind power, and industry advocates contend its loss could cost thousands of jobs. Under the industry proposal, the credit’s value would fall gradually over six years.

The credit’s “continued availability for a reasonable period of time will allow the industry to invest in the costsaving technologies required to finish the job,” the Washington-based trade group said in the letter.

The group’s plan would keep 100 percent of the current 2.2 cents a kilowatt-hour for projects started in 2013. The credit would fall to 90 percent for projects completed in 2014, 80 percent in 2015, 70 percent in 2016 and 60 percent in both 2017 and 2018, the credit’s final year.

However, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a longtime critic of the wind industry, told reporters Thursday that Congress should allow the credit, which was first adopted in 1992, to lapse.

“We can’t afford it,” Alexander said.

Separately, a group of Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday urged President Barack Obama to support changes in the tax code to let renewable energy companies get the kinds of benefits that some fossil-fuel projects receive.

The changes include letting wind and solar companies form master limited partnerships. While owners could sell shares under these structures, the companies would be taxed at a lower rate than corporations.

Business, Pages 72 on 12/16/2012

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