AWEA lauds offshore wind tax credit initiative

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) maintains a pair of Senate bills extending the offshore wind energy federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) have the potential to jumpstart the industry.

The Offshore Wind Incentives for New Development Act and the Incentivizing Offshore Wind Power Act would extend the ITC at 30 percent of the project’s total value for six years and eight years, respectively. The bill comes at a critical time for offshore wind in America – with energy developers prepare to start construction on the first wave of large-scale projects.

“Without Congressional action, the federal Investment Tax Credit for offshore wind is set to phase out this year—just as the first wave of large-scale offshore wind projects prepare to begin construction,” AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan said. “At this critical moment for a new U.S. energy industry, policy stability is more important than ever. We appreciate and strongly support proposals that would extend the Investment Tax Credit for offshore wind, jumpstarting the projected $70 billion build-out of America’s offshore wind infrastructure, delivering large amounts of reliable, homegrown clean energy and tens of thousands of jobs to the U.S. economy.”

Promoting offshore wind investment will strengthen and diversify American energy production, AWEA maintains. With world-class resource potential off the East Coast, West Coast and in the Great Lakes, offshore wind is uniquely well-suited to meet consumer demand for large amounts of reliable, clean energy near America’s largest population centers.