U.S. Wind Installations in First 9 Months Beat Last Year

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. added 419 megawatts of
wind-power capacity in the third quarter, as installations in
the first nine months surpassed all of last year, the American
Wind Energy Association
said.

Nineteen projects have added 1,254 megawatts this year, up
from 1,088 megawatts in 2013, the Washington-based industry
association said in a report today. The rate of growth in wind
development has slowed in recent years as a federal credit has
been allowed to repeatedly lapse by lawmakers. The tax was
renewed by Congress last year and has expired again.

“We’re optimistic and fighting quite hard to make sure
there’s another extension,” Emily Williams, senior policy
analyst for AWEA, said in an interview today at the
organization’s annual finance seminar in New York.

Wind farms that began construction by the end of 2013
qualify for the 2.3 cent-a-kilowatt-hour tax credit. There are
105 projects totaling more than 13,600 megawatts under
development in 21 states. More than 20 percent of the nation’s
existing 62,300 megawatts are in Texas, which had the largest
rate of installations during the third quarter.

“You think of Texas as this big oil and gas state, but
it’s absolutely leading the country in wind power,” Williams
said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Justin Doom in New York at
jdoom1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Tina Davis, Will Wade

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