The US Senate has approved a bill, that was already approved by the House of Representatives, to retroactively extend the federal production tax credit (PTC) for wind power plants, that expired in late 2013. The PTC had been introduced in 1992 to allow eligible wind power producers to take an inflation-adjusted tax credit per unit of generation for the first ten years of operation. Until 2013, it was applied to projects commissioned by the end of the year; in 2013 and 2014, the PTC conditions changed and projects under construction at the end of the year were eligible. In 2014, the tax credit was US$2.3c/kWh. The changes in eligibility conditions and the timing of the 2013 extension contributed to slow down wind capacity additions from 13 GW added in 2012 to less than 1 GW in 2013. In the first three quarters of 2014, less than 2 GW have been added but up to 3 GW could be commissioned in the fourth quarter and 11 GW could be completed in 2015.
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