This week: AWEA Blog - Investors ask Congress to extend wind energy PTC

In a letter delivered to Congressional leaders, investors noted that
this critical tax credit creates broad economic benefits, both for wind
power producers and their suppliers across the nation. Several of the
investors also met with Congressional staff to discuss their support for
the credit.

"It is not just investors in wind turbine manufacturing or builders of
wind farms that care about the Production Tax Credit. This measure
supports the broader renewable power economy," said Matthew Patsky, CEO
of Trillium Asset Management. "We have long-term positions in a variety
of suppliers and diversified firms that can link a portion of their
success to the wind power industry. We want to see that progress
continue without being bogged down by uncertainty in Washington."

The signatories of the letter, many of whom are members of the Investor
Network on Climate Risk, include state treasurers and several of the
largest pension funds in the country including the California State
Teachers Retirement System, the New York State Comptroller's Office, the
New York City Comptroller's Office, and the North Carolina, Pennsylvania
and Oregon State Treasurers.

"The Production Tax Credit is vital to fostering a vibrant renewable
power sector, which will improve our economic competitiveness while also
reducing our reliance on fossil fuels," said Oregon State Treasurer Ted
Wheeler, who oversees the management of $72.5 billion of state funds.
"Renewable energy generation opportunities beckon from border-to-border
in Oregon, and they promise to produce not only clean and sustainable
power but also crucial employment and investments in key infrastructure."

Oregon wind farms now generate enough energy to power 700,000 homes, and
the state is the home to the North American headquarters of wind power
companies Vestas and Iberdrola Renewables.

"Instead of threatening tens of thousands of wind power jobs, Congress
should heed these investors' call and craft long-term policy that
supports renewable energy and its workforce," said Mindy Lubber,
director of the Investor Network on Climate Risk and president of Ceres.
"For long-term infrastructure projects like upgrading our electricity
grid, 'boom and bust' cycles just don't work."

"As long-term investors, we recognize America's critical need for more
sustainable energy sources," said New York City Comptroller John C. Liu,
who oversees the city's $122 billion pension fund."But given our
fiduciary duty to provide a secure retirement for 700,000 hardworking
New Yorkers, we need a stable policy on incentives in order to invest in
the renewable power industry. This credit pays for performance in the
renewable power sector, and it deserves to be extended as soon as possible."

The PTC is an incentive that reduces taxes on the operators of wind
farms and leaves more of the money they earn from electricity sales in
private hands, helping to attract private investment not only in wind
projects, but in component manufacturers, suppliers, trucking companies
and more.The PTC provides an income tax credit of 2.2 cents per
kilowatt-hour for the first 10 years of electricity production from
utility-scale wind turbines. It is set to expire on Dec. 31 unless
Congress extends it first. A recent study by Navigant Consulting found
that extending the Production Tax Credit will allow the industry to grow
to 100,000 jobs in just four years, while an expiration would kill
37,000 jobs within a year.

A House bill seeking to extend the PTC has 110 cosponsors, including 25
Republicans, while a similar Senate bill is cosponsored by seven
Senators, including three Republicans.PTC extension efforts have
received the endorsement of a broad coalition of more than 370 members,
including the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Farm
Bureau Federation, and the Western Governors' Association. A PTC
extension also has the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the
National Governors Association, and the bipartisan Governors' Wind
Energy Coalition, which includes 23 Republican and Democratic Governors
from across the U.S.A PTC extension has been endorsed by a number of
newspapers across the country, including the Des Moines Register, the
Denver Post, the Daily Oklahoman, the Toledo Blade, the Houston
Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the
Chicago Sun-Times, and The New York Times.

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