Proponents
of wind-energy projects frequently claim that wind is free. That may be
true, but creating jobs in the wind-energy business is a very expensive
proposition.
The battle over the federal production tax credit
(PTC) for wind, which amounts to 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour and
expires at the end of the year, is heating up. Last month, the Senate Finance Committee approved a plan to extend the PTC. Republican nominee Mitt Romney has said that,
if elected, he will let the credit expire. President Obama wants to
extend it: Last week, in a speech at the Democratic National Convention,
he declared that “thousands of Americans have jobs today building wind turbines.”How expensive are these jobs? Let’s look at the numbers. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has repeatedly claimed that if the PTC isn’t extended, 37,000 wind-related jobs will be lost. Now consider the figures from the Joint Committee on Taxation, the non-partisan congressional entity established in 1926 that assists legislators on tax-related matters. Their number crunchers put the cost of extending the PTC at $12.18 billion from 2013 to 2022. Divide that figure by the 37,000 jobs claimed by AWEA, and you get $329,000 per job.
Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/316854/cost-wind-energy-jobs-robert-bryce
No comments:
Post a Comment