Money doesn't grow on trees, but it may grow on windmills. The developers of the four proposed wind farms in Jefferson County could capitalize on tax breaks and incentives at the federal, state and local levels through their projects. Opponents say the subsidies take taxpayer money and give it to those who already are rich. "It's the taxpayers and electric customers that are taken to the cleaners," said Glenn R. Schleede, a widely known wind power opponent who has worked for electric utilities and the federal Office of Management and Budget.

Congress is putting the short-term future of renewable energy companies in jeopardy even as the presidential candidates and most lawmakers hail windmills, solar panels and biofuels as long-term solutions to high gasoline prices and global warming. ...Proponents of wind power, a nascent industry that relies on skittish investors, are in a similar predicament. ...The production tax credit would cost $7 billion and two solar investment credits would cost $2.7 billion over 10 years.

How big a deal is two cents? Well, it's a big deal if you're trying to produce wind energy. A federal production tax credit of 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour is set to expire at the end of the year. Wind energy producers generally expect lawmakers to renew the credit, but Congress has yet to act. With time running out, the wind power industry is scrambling. ...Xcel's Frank Prager said the end of the tax credit on December 31, is rippling through the wind industry. He said many U.S. companies are rushing to finish projects before the deadline.

JPMorgan analysts are recommending investors take a neutral stance on electric utilities and independent power producers, a less upbeat position than the securities firm took earlier this year. ...The firm also said it has received calls from a number of investors worried about T. Boone Pickens' high-profile plan supporting wind power could hurt power prices.

A crucial argument about the best way to combat global warming comes down to two alternatives that may seem deceptively simple: • Force utilities to make a certain percentage of electricity from renewable resources, such as solar and wind. • Make utilities pay a stiff fine for the greenhouse gases they produce from coal and natural gas, then let the utilities figure out the most economical way of reducing their emissions. ...The debate boils down to three key points: Are renewable standards the best way to deal with greenhouse gases? How expensive are renewables, particularly in the Southeast? And what's the best renewable for Florida?

After two months of fever-pitch debate over how to deal with the soaring price of oil, Congress left town Friday without doing anything on energy. The final day featured a group of raucus Republicans who remained on the House floor after an adjournment vote was passed, the microphones turned off and the lights dimmed, demanding that Democratic leaders return and take action on comprehensive energy legislation.

Over the past few years, wind energy has experienced a tremendous, if precariously fragile, boom. Last year alone, wind-power capacity jumped 21 percent in the United States. Wind is now one of the country's fastest-growing electricity sources, buoyed by strong consumer demand, mounting concerns about fossil fuels, and-perhaps most notable-vital government support. But uncertainty about key federal tax credits threatens to knock the wind out of the wind-power industry.

The production tax credit pays about 20 dollars per megawatt hour. So a single wind turbine like one at Wildorado, can make up to 45 dollars an hour or over 400 thousand dollars a year. This money is essential for developers because it can cost hundreds of million dollars to build a wind farm. "Most of the companies I've visited with say wind energy would not be financially feasible without this federal tax credit that goes with production," said Congressman Mac Thornberry.

A federal clock is ticking on an ambitious Texas Public Utility Commission plan to build transmission lines to funnel wind energy from West Texas to metropolitan areas. The wind energy industry revolves around a production tax credit that expires Dec. 31. After more than one false start, there is no guarantee Congress will extend it. Expansion will halt, some warn, if lawmakers don't take action this summer. "We don't want lines to just be standing out there," Sweetwater Mayor Greg Wortham said of the planned transmission lines. Wortham is also director of the West Texas Energy Consortium. Until a turbine is producing juice -- no credit.

The looming expiration date and uncertainty about whether Congress will extend the so-called renewable energy production tax credit is making it more difficult for wind project developers to line up financing, industry officials say. According to the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, 25 wind energy companies have expressed an interest in developing about 1,000 megawatts of wind power in the state during the next few years. ... "This isn't emergency spending," said Herseth Sandlin, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. Johnson agreed that they need to find a way to pay for the extension.

"If we don't get something done in the next 30 days or so, we're going to start seeing facilities being delayed, turbines moved offshore," Eber warned. "We've got to get Congress to try to do something for us because it's starting to look like it's going to have an impact on expected deliveries." Lack of clarity surrounding when or whether the PTC will be extended has hampered wind development and consolidation. ...GE Energy Financial Services will invest $2 billion in renewable energy in 2008, separately from investments by GE Energy, Walsh said, later emphasizing that the company is "not captive" to the U.S. market. "This is a global market. If we don't have the incentives, we're going to invest elsewhere. To have stable policies, to have the right risk reward, whether it's China or Europe or wherever, that's where the money is going to go," Walsh said.

General Electric Co. executives and spokespeople said Wednesday another congressional failure to extend a tax credit for renewable energy projects could put billions of dollars worth of future wind farms in jeopardy. ...The federal production tax credit (PTC) for solar, wind and other renewable power projects is set to expire on Dec. 31. It is indexed to inflation, so owners of wind farms receive a tax credit of 2.1 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 10 years of operation. The PTC was first instituted in 1992 to help encourage renewable energy sources and reduce pollution.

The Energy Independence and Tax Relief Act of 2008 would have extended a tax credit to build windmills by one year through December 31, 2009, and extend for three years similar credits for renewable energy sources like biomass, geothermal, landfill gas and trash combustion. The bill failed to garner enough votes to limit debate and move to a vote, leaving the fate of the clean-energy credits uncertain. Extension of renewable energy credits was the most expensive portion of the bill, at about $7 billion over 10 years.

Congress struggles to fund a one-year extension that will cost $3.5 billion to pay wind generators the credit for 10 years. The House passed the extension in May, but the Senate has failed three times to approve it this year. ...On Tuesday, the Senate failed again to approve wind power's tax credit that was contained in a larger package of tax provisions. "The general agreement among everyone is: 'Look, Congress is not going to let these things expire,' " said Bill Wicker, spokesman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of extra dollars laying around."

To the disappointment of many Silicon Valley companies, partisan politics in Congress on Tuesday continued to block the extension of tax credits for renewable energy and research and development. The Senate voted 50-44 - 10 votes short of the total needed - to close debate and take a final vote on a package of tax credits for solar, wind, geothermal and other renewable energy producers, which are due to expire at the end of the year. The bill also would reinstate R&D tax credits that expired at the end of 2007.

Senate Republicans thwarted Democratic-supported legislation that would increase windfall- profit taxes on oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. as Democrats set their sights on tighter energy trading scrutiny. Democrats fell nine votes shy today of 60 needed to proceed to debate. The White House Office of Management and Budget today threatened a veto of the measure. ..."The bill before us is pure and simple, a pathetic attempt to even call itself an energy plan,'' Texas Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said on the Senate floor. A windfall profit tax passed in 1980 was "an abject failure.''

Amid voter frustration over record-high fuel prices, U.S. Senate Democrats plan to bring up on Tuesday legislation that takes aim at oil companies, speculators and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The vote marks the Democratic party's most comprehensive response to rising gasoline, jet fuel and diesel prices, and will kick off a debate that is expected to last at least until the presidential elections in November. Republicans are expected to block the plan ...The U.S. Senate is also voting this week on whether to proceed with a tax bill that would extend tax credits for projects to generate energy from solar power, wind, and other sources of renewable energy.

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."