WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2015 - The U.S. leads the world in wind energy generation, but if the wind industry is going to reach its goal of being “vibrant and self-sustaining,” the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) must be extended, according to a white paper by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
The production tax credit (PTC) plays a key role in encouraging private sector investments, AWEA says, warning that the industry’s gains could be quickly lost if Congress does not renew and extend the credit. 
"The cost of wind energy fell by more than half over the last five years, bringing the wind industry a significant distance down the road to achieving cost parity," AWEA says in the white paper, "The key now is staying on that cost-reduction trajectory -- by maintaining the policy stability that made it possible -- so that cost parity can be reached."
"The renewable energy PTC has been a tremendous success in driving technology improvements and cost reductions, but we need to finish the job," said AWEA CEO Tom Kiernan. "We're building some of the best infrastructure this country has ever seen, and getting clean electricity literally from thin air, with no fuel price risk for consumers . . . Now is not the time to push a promising American industry off a cliff by failing to renew a policy that has been such a success. You don't push a boulder 90 percent of the way up a hill only to stop a few feet short and let it roll back down."
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