EWEA Communications Director Julian Scola

Julian Scola, EWEA’s Communication Director, is attending the American Wind Energy Association’s Windpower event in Atlanta…in this blog he reports the latest wind energy news from the US…

American jobs and manufacturing is the rallying cry of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) in its efforts to get the vital ‘Production Tax Credit’ extended.

The PTC is the main Federal support for wind energy and runs out at the end of the year. The uncertainty has already led to job losses and projects being shelved.

AWEA has worked very hard to build impressive bi-partisan political support for an extension as well as business support from leading companies including Microsoft and Nike. Recently President Obama has made PTC extension a priority.

At the AWEA Windpower annual event in Atlanta on Monday the Governors of Kansas and Arkansas, Sam Brownback and Mike Beebe, and CNN founder Ted Turner, spoke out strongly in favour of an extension.

AWEA CEO Denise Bode is confident the PTC will be extended.

Most likely is a one year extension with longer term policy unclear in the run up to Presidential and Congressional elections in November.

It’s a warning to European politicians: if you want the jobs and growth wind energy can bring to Europe don’t delay in setting out a post 2020 energy policy. We’ve had a 2050 Energy Roadmap and on Wednesday we’ll have a Renewable Energy Strategy. What we need is an instruction from the European Parliament and Ministers to the European Commission to come forward with binding renewable energy targets for 2030.