Vic Abate, vice president for renewables for GE Energy a maker of turbines, said that wind could become a "mainstream fuel source" with the right policies in place. Given the regulatory uncertainty in the United States, GE and others are spreading the investment risk around the globe by funneling manufacturing and other operations to Europe, China and India, he remarked. Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Denmark-based turbine builder Vestas, noted that the company was launched in 1986 when oil cost about $14 a barrel. Now, Vestas employs 18,000 people and America is its largest market. "Having potential and realizing it are two different things," he said. "A lot of things have to be done."

Delaware's two big wind-power initiatives face an uncertain future as millions of dollars in federal subsidies are being held up in Congress. ...In the absence of an extension for the credit, Delmarva would likely have to wait out a delay in construction, or pay more for the power. The Bluewater project's timeline is longer, making it less susceptible to the short-term political stalemate. But the uneven history of the credit underscores a risk to the Bluewater project, observers say. ...Bluewater spokesman Jim Lanard said it was "unimaginable" that Congress would stop funding the tax credit, and that Bluewater was prepared to move forward with the project even if Congress elects to fund the tax credit on a year-by-year basis.

A local company has lost out on part of a $45 million project in the Midwest because federal tax incentives for renewable energy sources - an integral part of the economics of all renewable energy projects - are set to expire on Dec. 31. Roughly $200 million invested in two Pittsfield projects that would produce up to 50 megawatts of energy and 50 million gallons of biodiesel is also likely to be affected. Two wind turbine projects in North County that would collectively produce nearly 38 megawatts of energy could also face significant funding obstacles. ...If the extension fails, Fairbank, of EOS, said, on Jan. 1, "the industry just takes a massive blow because you just can't make the economics of these projects work without incentives."

The House passed a $54 billion tax package Wednesday that Democratic backers said would help relieve dependence on imported oil while easing the economic strain on parents, homeowners and businesses. ...The measure would provide some $17 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, carbon capture and sequestration projects, plug-in cars and technology for green buildings. It would also create a new category of tax credit bonds to finance state and local government initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Marking the start of yet another bid to move the stalled extension of renewable energy tax credits through Congress, the House Ways and Means Committee yesterday approved a $50 billion tax package that contains a slew of incentives for clean energy and biofuel production. The committee passed the legislation on a largely party-line 25-12 vote after several hours of debate on amendments that mostly had little to do with the bill's energy provisions. ...The legislation provides for an extension until the end of 2009 of the wind power production tax credit -- a measure that renewable energy advocates say is pivotal for survival of the industry. Other alternative energy sources -- such as biomass and geothermal -- are extended for three years.

The House's tax-writing committee on Thursday approved a multifaceted tax package it said would save people almost $10 billion through expansion of the child tax credit and creation of a new deduction for property taxes. But the Ways and Means Committee put off for another day the annual debate over what to do with the alternative minimum tax that threatens millions of taxpayers with thousands of dollars in extra taxes apiece unless Congress acts to suppress it.

Here's a challenge: How do you keep clamoring for subsidies when your industry shatters growth records with numbing regularity? ...Congress keeps dithering over the renewal of clean-energy tax credits. They expire later this year, and-since they make wind power more cost-competitive with regular electricity generation-have historically been crucial to the industry's development. They apparently still are. ...Granted, price supports have been crucial to the development of wind power everywhere. ...But when consumers are already being battered by higher prices for gasoline (and electricity), and your industry is thriving, how easy is it to keep pleading for more help?

The U.S. House of Representatives next week could weigh legislation that extends tax incentives to use renewable energy sources like wind and solar and slaps new taxes on big energy companies, Democratic aides said on Friday. Plans have not been finalized, but Democratic leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi want to show their displeasure at near-record high oil prices and record-setting profits recently reported by oil companies like Exxon Mobil Corp, aides said on condition of anonymity.

The American Wind Energy Association on Wednesday announced that 2008 was shaping up to be another strong year of growth for the U.S. wind power industry, with 1,400 new megawatts added during the first quarter ...Although the industry is actively lobbying for an extension of the tax credit this year, when the continued support of wind power is so critical to its mass adoption, they quietly concede that things are a little different now. Wind power economics have improved to the point that, at least in many parts of the country, it is competitive with other fuel sources, even without a tax credit.

Times have never been better for wind power. The industry's growth rate doubled last year, and additional turbines are going up across the country. But the industry is heavily dependent on a federal tax subsidy that's set to expire at the end of this year. And the industry's growth is steadily increasing the cost of the subsidy and making it tougher for lawmakers to keep it going. ...Last year, the industry added 5,244 megawatts of capacity, more than twice the 2,454 megawatts added in 2006. That brought the nationwide capacity to 16,818 megawatts. But that growth also means that continuing the subsidy for one more year, through 2009, would cost taxpayers $3 billion. "The problem with a long-term extension is that it's cost-prohibitive as long as the industry continues to expand. Budget-wise, it's hard to do it for an extended period of time," said Frank Maisano, an energy industry lobbyist.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., included the extension of renewable-energy tax credits in a larger bill in which the centerpiece is a measure to give taxpayers relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax. ...On renewable energy, Baucus is seeking to extend two main types of renewable-energy tax credits for one more year, through 2009. ..."People's expectations were for something better," said Ronan Wolfsdorf, an alternative energy analyst at Cowen & Co. A one-year tax credit extension is "not ideal for large commercial projects because they can take a long time to get designed, permitted and installed."

For 31 years, the federal government has subsidized new wind and solar projects. A tax break that provides up to 30 cents on every dollar it costs to build solar facilities and one for operating wind turbines are set to expire this year. The Senate last week voted to renew them. Now, proponents are pressing the House, which passed a stand-alone tax package with similar extensions, to do the same. ...The wind industry appears be confident that the credits will be extended "because there are a lot of [wind] turbines being sold well into 2009, 2010, 2011," Cheney said. "But still, wind farm developers can't bridge any particular [subsidy] gap if it's a long one. And if it's not renewed at all, companies will start unraveling."

Producers, lobbyists and analysts are watching closely as Congress continues to weigh numerous tax provisions related to both renewable sources and to traditional oil and natural gas. Action this week was in the Senate, where an overwhelming majority approved an amendment dealing with tax breaks for renewable energy to House Resolution 3221, the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. ...One analyst and an electricity producer, in fact, were watching one issue specifically - the extension of a tax credit through 2009 for producing electricity from renewable sources, such as wind. Simply put? They were hoping for a longer extension.

The Senate on Thursday passed a bipartisan package of tax breaks and other steps designed to help businesses and homeowners weather the housing crisis. The measure passed by an impressive 84-12 vote, but even its supporters acknowledge it's tilted too much in favor of businesses such as home builders and does little to help borrowers at risk of losing their homes. ...Before passing the measure, the Senate added $6 billion in unrelated tax breaks for renewable energy producers, despite Senate rules that say tax cuts must be "paid for" with revenue increases elsewhere in the tax code.

Legislation that would extend tax credits for investment in wind, solar and other renewable power for a year may pass the U.S. Senate today, but it's not clear whether it can become law. A vote on the legislation will mark the fourth attempt this congressional session to extend the tax credits. "What this would do is renew current law and provide for renewable energy without raising taxes at the same time," said Don Stewart, spokesman for Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. ... A one-year extension of the tax credits would cost about $6 billion over 10 years. Legislation passed by the House was more expansive and expensive. The Senate has rejected that legislation repeatedly.

After failing three times in the past year to extend popular tax breaks for wind, geothermal and solar energy, two senators on Thursday announced a compromise they said might get it done. Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., introduced a $6 billion bill to renew tax credits on energy production from renewable resources, and for consumers who buy solar panels and other energy efficient items. The tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year, and without an extension people are less likely to invest in the forward-looking industries, Cantwell said. ...Unlike earlier versions, the new bill contains no plan to pay for the tax breaks. Instead sponsors are calling it a "stimulus" bill that would be exempt from Senate "pay as you go" rules.

GE Energy Financial Services, which invests in energy projects, expects to finish two new wind farms in Texas and Illinois by the third quarter of this year, ahead of any potential tax credit expiration. GE is developing the projects with Invenergy Wind LLC. The farm in Texas, east of Lubbock, will have 100 wind turbines for capacity of 150 megawatts. Mr. Howell declined to say how much the project will cost. Wind developers who can't finish their projects this year could face a second problem. Global demand for wind turbines is so hot that developers must order the equipment months in advance.

The reason solar, wind, geothermal and power conservation stocks crashed largely comes down to fears of recession and to politics - as opposed to a major bubble across the green industry. While there are exceptions like waste-to-energy, most alternative energies depend on federal tax credits. The production tax credit (PTC) provides 19 cents per kilowatt hour for renewable energies, while the investment tax credit (ITC) offers a 30 percent rebate on the cost of a solar system. But the tax credits "sunset" every year or two and must be renewed, creating a boom-and-bust cycle. ...And with the PTC and ITC going the way of the dodo on Dec. 31, fears of recession and a credit crunch have all conspired against green investors.

The Senate has yet to take up House Resolution 5351, the energy bill approved in the House in late February. "We narrowly defeated it a year ago," Mills said. "But we think we have the votes right now in the Senate to keep it from becoming law." The bill's funding of tax incentives for green energy -- such as the wind energy production tax credit -- with $18 billion of taxes on big oil has failed to win any support from U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who said he supports wind energy production tax credits but doesn't like the way the bill pays for them. "Our friends on the other side of the aisle feel like they have to raise taxes in order to do it," Cornyn said. "My preference would be to cut out some of the wasteful programs in the federal government and use that savings to pay for those tax credits."

General Electric Co. and Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world's two biggest wind-turbine makers, are reaping benefits from record orders by U.S. utilities racing to add generating capacity even as they face the loss of subsidies. GE, Vestas and Siemens AG stand to gain although the extension of the production tax credit, due to expire in December, is stalled in Congress. ..."Customers are giving billions of dollars of orders already because they're afraid they're going to lose their spot in line,'' John Krenicki, who runs the GE Energy division, said March 5. GE posted more than $4.5 billion in wind-turbine sales last year, the most since it bought the business in 2002 for less than $300 million from Enron Corp. GE's total revenue last year was $172.7 billion. ...Investors, and company executives, are betting the credit will be restored once a new U.S. president is in office.