January 14, 2001—Several new wind power plants went online in December throughout the United States, significantly boosting the total US wind power capacity. Among them were the 30-megawatt Fenner Windpower Project near Syracuse, NY; the 80-megawatt Top of Iowa Wind Farm in Worth County, Iowa; the 263-megawatt Stateline Clean Energy Center near Walla Walla, Wash.; and the 278-megawatt King Mountain Clean Energy Center near Odessa, Texas.
FPL Energy, LLC developed the facilities in Washington and Texas, and CHI Energy, Inc. developed the facility in New York.
Because the plants went online before Dec. 31, they qualify for a tax credit of 1.7 cents per kilowatt-hour (adjusted for inflation) of electricity produced for their first ten years of operation. Wind power advocates had hoped to extend the year-end deadline for two more years, but the extension has not yet been approved by Congress. (For the latest information about the tax credit, contact the American Wind Energy Association.)
Despite the lapsed deadline for the tax credit, several wind plants are expected to go online in 2002. They include a 30-megawatt wind facility in Kimball County, Neb., a 65-megawatt wind facility in Tucker County, W.Va., and a 250-megawatt wind facility in Grant County, W.Va.
Based on a report from the Energy Department’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network.
