Wind Power and the Production Tax Credit: An Overview of Research Results

I am here today to report on the findings of recent and ongoing work that I have helped manage and conduct that may inform your deliberations on the possible fate and extension of the Section 45 Production Tax Credit (PTC), especially as it pertains to wind power. These studies, many of which are still in progress, suggest that renewable electricity development is beginning to accelerate, that the potential for renewable electricity production in the U.S. is enormous, and that there may be significant benefits to both a longer-term extension of the PTC and to certain revisions to the PTC. That said, there are also very real costs to the Treasury of these changes that will need to be balanced against the potential benefits, and the benefits and costs of tax incentives for renewable energy might also be judged in comparison to the costs and benefits of providing tax incentives to other industries.