Protecting Clean Energy Progress During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing unprecedented challenges to the U.S. healthcare system, disruptions to daily life across the country, and deep uncertainty across the economy.

Supply chain disturbances and massive public health interventions are extending these obstacles to the U.S. wind energy industry as well. Protecting American jobs and economic investment and ensuring the safety of wind’s 120,000-strong workforce remain our primary objectives. To help protect America’s wind workers and the communities that rely on wind development for tax revenue and land lease payments, we are asking that Congress include the following solutions in their next stimulus package.​​

• Secure alternative financing options to the tax equity market – reductions in the availability of tax equity caused by the pandemic have resulted in a situation where credit-worthy wind projects need additional options for securing construction capital. A fix referred to as “direct pay” that allows developers to monetize federal tax credits will provide developers with access to the capital needed to continue investing and creating new jobs.
• Preserve the U.S.’s progress on offshore wind by extending the sector’s “safe harbor” period to 7 years – the additional time will help offshore wind project developers accommodate manufacturing and administrative delays caused by the pandemic. This move will help protect up to 83,000 jobs and $57 billion in investment by 2030.
• All land-based and offshore wind projects that demonstrate a continuous effort to make progress towards completion should qualify for safe harbor extensions – to qualify for the federal tax credits, wind projects must demonstrate progress towards completion. Given the rapidly changing circumstances, allowing projects to show progress through “continuous efforts,” regardless of how they were demonstrating it at the onset of construction, will provide flexibility to accommodate COVID-19 delays.

Without Congressional action on these critical issues, more than 25 gigawatts of wind projects are at risk, representing $35 billion in investment. Rural communities across the country could see a loss of over $8 billion in state and local tax revenue and land lease payments to farmers and other private landowners. And at a time when America will need to be getting back to work, more than 35,000 wind jobs – from manufacturing to skilled trades – could be lost.

How can you help?

• TAKE ACTION: Ask your Member of Congress to support Americans working in wind energy.​
• Sign-up for Clean Power for America updates and alerts.
• Invite your colleagues, friends, and family to join.
• Follow Clean Power for America on Twitter and Facebook.

As our country and the world manages the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, the American wind industry stands with our communities in support. To learn more about the American Wind Energy Association’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, visit www.awea.org/covid-19.