The US Congress has extended the production tax credit (PTC) for wind power projects at 60% of the full credit amount (US$1.8c/kWh) for another year until the end of 2021, and qualifying wind projects will have to begin construction by 31 December 2021. The PTC was first enacted in 1992 and enables wind projects to receive a tax credit based on their commissioning year or based on their construction start date (provided construction is completed within 4 years). Wind projects that started construction in 2016 qualify for 100% of the full credit amount but this percentage decreased by 20%/year from 2017 to 2019 (wind projects entering construction in 2019 only qualified for 40% of the full credit amount). In the context of pandemic, projects entering construction in 2016 and 2017 were given an additional year to complete construction.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that 21 GW of new wind capacity was added in 2020, exceeding the record of 13 GW added in 2012. 2020 capacity additions were driven by developers seeking to qualify for the full-valued PTC from 2016. Project developers now expect 12.2 GW of new wind capacity to be commissioned in 2021.
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