After more than a year of debate, both chambers of the U.S. Congress approved a bill to extend the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) through December 31, 2009. President Bush swiftly signed the “financial bailout” bill, to which the PTC extension was attached, after the House passed it today.

The PTC was extended for one year in its present form. The first bit of good news of the week came on Wednesday night, when the U.S. Senate approved the Economic Stabilization Act. The package also provides for the creation of an eight-year investment tax credit (ITC) for small wind turbines, the first federal support for residential-scale turbines since 1985. Then this afternoon, in the final vote of the 110 th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the same bill by a vote of 263 to 171.

The PTC—a vital component of financing most utility-scale wind energy projects—went into effect in 1994 and has been extended numerous times since then. 

Following the House vote, Greg Wetstone, AWEA’s senior director of governmental and public affairs, released this statement:

“We salute Members of Congress in both parties who fought under difficult conditions to keep the renewable energy production tax credit and small turbine investment tax credit on the agenda until the very end, and then pushed them across the finish line. These tax credits are essential to the continued growth of wind energy, to the economic and energy security of the United States, and to a successful beginning in the fight against global warming.”

In 2009, AWEA will continue to seek a long-term extension of the PTC and enactment of a national renewable electricity standard, as well as launch a major new effort to build an interstate transmission highway that maximizes the deployment of renewable energy.

Speaking for the wind industry, Wetstone said, “We look forward to working next year with a new Congress and Administration to fashion a serious long-term clean energy policy that increases domestic energy, increases our reliance on clean renewable energy, and creates jobs for Americans.”