Snowe, Collins Tout Bill to Bolster Development of Deepwater Wind Facilities

Press Release

U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Susan Collins today announced the Deepwater Wind Incentive Act, bipartisan legislation to provide a critical long-term renewable production tax credit for developing deepwater wind facilities.

"Deepwater wind is a Maine resource that provides a tremendous potential for our county and provides a more consistent resource than onshore and near-shore wind," said Senator Snowe, a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax issues. "This legislation provides a clear and consistent tax credit that will put our nation on the path to achieving our goal of operating 20 percent wind energy by 2030 and develop an incentive for wind companies to invest in this breakthrough technology. This legislation will complement the Department of Energy's vision of making the University of Maine a leading center of deepwater offshore wind research"

"I am very excited to support this bill with my colleague from Maine. Estimates are that development of five gigawatts of offshore wind in Maine -- enough to power more than 1 million homes for a year -- could attract $20 billion of investment to our state and create more than 15,000 green energy jobs that will be sustained over 30 years," said Senator Collins. "The University of Maine is leading the way in cutting-edge research on this promising renewable energy resource. This bill will help ensure that when deepwater offshore wind turbines become commercially-viable the systems receive a fair tax credit given that they will require advanced novel materials and technologies."

The Deepwater Offshore Wind Incentive Act would provide a tax incentive of 3.04 cents per kilowatt production tax credit for the first 6,000 Megawatts of Deepwater Offshore Wind Production in the United States.

"The Senators are to be commended for a far-reaching legislation which will allow entrepreneurs in the US and in Maine to compete with Europe, China, Japan and other countries in developing next-generation, floating over-the-horizon wind farms. The US has over 1500 GW of deepwater offshore wind generation capacity within 50 nm, over 8% of this capacity is off Maine's coasts," said Dr. H. J. Dagher, Director of the AEWC - Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine.
"To put this in perspective, 1 GW is approximately the capacity of a nuclear power plant. This 1500 GW number is bigger than the total US electricity generation capacity from all sources, which is approximately1100 GW. With this incentive, the US and Maine industries can compete on a more level playing field globally."

This legislation is modeled after the current tax policy that exists for the new nuclear power plants, authored in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, for a renewable energy technology that has the potential to yield 3,100 Terawatts of electricity per year. Deepwater wind, defined as in waters greater than 60 meters, avoids issues related to view shed and would provide certainty to American companies to manufacture and deploy this new renewable energy technology in the United States. The tax credit would be in place until 2030 to complement the Department of Energy's "20 percent by 2030 report," which outlined key policies, including long-term tax incentives, to produce 20 percent of America's electricity from wind by 2030.

Our Senator's crucial tax incentives legislation may help create a deepwater offshore wind industry in the US, that can generate over 15,000 jobs in Maine alone, and attract $20 Billion of investment to the state," continued Dr. Dagher. "The University of Maine has been privileged to work with our Senators, our Governor, and our State Legislature to help create this new industry in our state. This bipartisan renewable energy, job creation, and energy independence effort will be getting a major boost through Senators Snowe and Collins' proposed tax incentives legislation."

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