By Anthony Brino | Illinois Statehouse News
SPRINGFIELD — The federal tax credit that has supported wind energy for almost 20 years is set to expire at the end of 2012.
With this expiration looming, the future of the industry in Illinois — one of the top producers of wind energy in the nation — could leave the state struggling to meet its renewable energy requirements, even as the state exports more wind energy than it uses.
Noe said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the tax credit will be renewed, as it has been almost every year since 1993. And as long as wind turbines are in the ground before the end of the year, the companies will qualify for the credit.
Even so, the industry is lobbying hard for its renewal; the American Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit Extension Act, a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, would extend it for four years.
Kevin Borgia, executive director of the Illinois Wind Energy Association, a nonprofit industry trade group, said he is optimistic that the credit will be renewed.
But without the credit, Borgia said, “investment isn’t attractive, new
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