Invite: Tuesday, September 27 at 12:Noon Expert Panelists present an Insider look at the Economics of Wind Energy

Invite:   Tuesday, September 27th at 12 Noon.  The Clean Energy Initiative will host for an insider look at Wind Energy: The Economic Ramifications of Wind Energy and the Relevance of Tax Credits.  This will be held in the NDN event space at 729 15th Street NW, Washington, DC. 

This lunchtime discussion will highlight the burgeoning wind economy and discuss how current budget debates might impact the industry in the years ahead.  We are proud to offer a terrific set of experts to guide our conversation.  Joining us will be:

Markian Melnyk, President of Atlantic Wind Connection
Rob Gramlich, Senior Vice President of Public Policy, American Wind Energy Association
Laura Haynes, Senior Policy Director for Energy and Environment, Senator Tom Carper (D)
Michael Moynihan, Director of the NDN's Clean Energy Initiative will serve as Moderator

This panel is the fourth in our "Clean Energy Solution Series" to showcase the leaders, companies, ideas and policies who are hastening our transition to a cleaner, safer and more distributed energy paradigm of the 21st Century.

The fast-growing wind sector averaged 3.2 percent of the nation’s electricity over the months between January and April 2011, according to the Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly report.

Since 2007, wind energy has installed 35 percent of America’s new electrical generating capacity, more than twice coal and nuclear combined. During the second quarter of 2011 the Wind Industry installed 1,033 MW of electrical generating capacity versus 709 MW during the same period last year, up 46 percent for the same quarter last year.

The Production Tax Credit is critical to the expansion of wind energy.  Combined with state renewable electricity standards, the Production Tax Credit  has been a major driver of wind power development over the past 7 years. It provides a 2.2 cent per kilowatt-hour tax credit for the first ten years of electricity production from utility-scale turbines. But Congress has repeatedly gone back and forth between extending and retiring the PTC.

Originally enacted as part of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, there have been four extensions of the provision, and on three occasions it has been allowed to sunset. This "on-again/off-again" status contributes to a boom-bust cycle of development that plagues the wind industry However, AWEA analysts cautioned that without stable policy such as an extension of the Production Tax Credit, set to expire in 2012, the industry’s recovery will stall.

Please RSVP today!