The Galloo Island wind turbine project has languished. The island remains undeveloped, the route of a power line from the project to the mainland is unresolved, the route once on shore is unknown and a customer for the electricity has not been announced.
What is known is that the financial model for wind projects is becalmed by the expiration of the federal tax breaks afforded to wind developers. The subsidy by America’s taxpayers has not been extended by the Congress, leaving developers without access to financial markets. Without the taxpayers’ promise of a 2.2-cent-per-kilowatt hour subsidy at a cost of $12 billion per year, Wall Street investors just aren’t interested. That credit expires Monday night.
