Senate finance committee advances wind energy production tax credit extension

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a tax extenders package that includes a two-year extension of the wind-energy production tax credit.

The move was good news for Colorado, a state with a sizable wind-energy industry that is dominated by Danish turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems A/S (OMX: VWS), which has factories in Windsor, Brighton and Pueblo.

The credit gives producers of wind energy 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour. The extension would run through the end of 2016 because the last extension of the credit expired at the end of 2014.

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Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado hailed the finance committee’s approval. Bennet had worked with Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Maria Cantwell of Washington to get the extension included in the extenders package and oppose multiple amendments that would have phased out and eliminated the PTC.

“The wind PTC helps support thousands of jobs in our state,” Bennet said in a prepared statement. “Until Congress gets serious about developing a 21st-century energy strategy with a tax code that supports all energy technologies, we need to take steps to provide certainty for Colorado’s and the country’s wind industry.”