IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v39y2011i7p4207-4214.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of Production Tax Credits on the profitable production of electricity from wind in the U.S

Author

Listed:
  • Lu, Xi
  • Tchou, Jeremy
  • McElroy, Michael B.
  • Nielsen, Chris P.

Abstract

A spatial financial model using wind data derived from assimilated meteorological condition was developed to investigate the profitability and competitiveness of onshore wind power in the contiguous U.S. It considers not only the resulting estimated capacity factors for hypothetical wind farms but also the geographically differentiated costs of local grid connection. The levelized cost of wind-generated electricity for the contiguous U.S. is evaluated assuming subsidy levels from the Production Tax Credit (PTC) varying from 0 to 4 ¢/kWh under three cost scenarios: a reference case, a high cost case, and a low cost case. The analysis indicates that in the reference scenario, current PTC subsidies of 2.1 ¢/kWh are at a critical level in determining the competitiveness of wind-generated electricity compared to conventional power generation in local power market. Results from this study suggest that the potential for profitable wind power with the current PTC subsidy amounts to more than seven times existing demand for electricity in the entire U.S. Understanding the challenges involved in scaling up wind energy requires further study of the external costs associated with improvement of the backbone transmission network and integration into the power grid of the variable electricity generated from wind.

Suggested Citation

  • Lu, Xi & Tchou, Jeremy & McElroy, Michael B. & Nielsen, Chris P., 2011. "The impact of Production Tax Credits on the profitable production of electricity from wind in the U.S," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 4207-4214, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:7:p:4207-4214
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030142151100317X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dvorak, Michael J. & Archer, Cristina L. & Jacobson, Mark Z., 2010. "California offshore wind energy potential," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1244-1254.
    2. Hoogwijk, Monique & de Vries, Bert & Turkenburg, Wim, 2004. "Assessment of the global and regional geographical, technical and economic potential of onshore wind energy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 889-919, September.
    3. Barradale, Merrill Jones, 2010. "Impact of public policy uncertainty on renewable energy investment: Wind power and the production tax credit," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(12), pages 7698-7709, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. John Dorrell & Keunjae Lee, 2020. "The Cost of Wind: Negative Economic Effects of Global Wind Energy Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-25, July.
    2. Richard Green & Adonis Yatchew, 2012. "Support Schemes for Renewable Energy: An Economic Analysis," Economics of Energy & Environmental Policy, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    3. repec:fip:fedkrw:rwp2013-07 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Brown, Jason P. & Weber, Jeremy G. & Wojan, Timothy R., 2013. "Emerging Energy Industries and Rural Growth," Economic Research Report 262215, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    5. Gillenwater, Michael & Lu, Xi & Fischlein, Miriam, 2014. "Additionality of wind energy investments in the U.S. voluntary green power market," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 452-457.
    6. Schumacher, Kim & Yang, Zhuoxiang, 2018. "The determinants of wind energy growth in the United States: Drivers and barriers to state-level development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-13.
    7. Liu, Jian & Ou, Meng & Sun, Xinyue & Chen, Jian & Mi, Chuanmin & Bo, Rui, 2022. "Implication of production tax credit on economic dispatch for electricity merchants with storage and wind farms," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    8. Brown, Jason P. & Pender, John & Wiser, Ryan & Lantz, Eric & Hoen, Ben, 2012. "Ex post analysis of economic impacts from wind power development in U.S. counties," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1743-1754.
    9. Alejandro Castillo-Ramírez & Diego Mejía-Giraldo, 2021. "Measuring Financial Impacts of the Renewable Energy Based Fiscal Policy in Colombia under Electricity Price Uncertainty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-28, February.
    10. Lee, Cheuk Wing & Zhong, Jin, 2015. "Financing and risk management of renewable energy projects with a hybrid bond," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 779-787.
    11. Pejman Bahramian & Glenn Jenkins & Frank Milne, 2020. "A stakeholder analysis of investments for wind power electricity generation in Ontario," Working Paper 1442, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    12. Goldfarb, Jillian L. & Buessing, Marric & Kriner, Douglas L., 2016. "Geographic proximity to coal plants and U.S. public support for extending the Production Tax Credit," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 299-307.
    13. Bahramian, Pejman & Jenkins, Glenn P. & Milne, Frank, 2021. "A stakeholder analysis of investments in wind power electricity generation in Ontario," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    14. Ahmadpour, Ali & Mokaramian, Elham & Anderson, Simon, 2021. "The effects of the renewable energies penetration on the surplus welfare under energy policy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1171-1182.
    15. Gillenwater, Michael, 2013. "Probabilistic decision model of wind power investment and influence of green power market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1111-1125.
    16. Jason Brown & John Pender & Jeremy G. Weber, 2013. "Rural wealth creation and emerging energy industries: lease and royalty payments to farm households and businesses," Research Working Paper RWP 13-07, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
    17. Kumar, Indraneel & Tyner, Wallace E. & Labi, Samuel & Sinha, Kumares C., 2021. "“The Answer My Friend is Blowin’ in the Wind”: A stochastic assessment of wind farms financial feasibility and economic efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    18. Fell, Harrison & Linn, Joshua & Munnings, Clayton, 2012. "Designing Renewable Electricity Policies to Reduce Emissions," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-54, Resources for the Future.
    19. Gacitua, L. & Gallegos, P. & Henriquez-Auba, R. & Lorca, Á. & Negrete-Pincetic, M. & Olivares, D. & Valenzuela, A. & Wenzel, G., 2018. "A comprehensive review on expansion planning: Models and tools for energy policy analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 346-360.
    20. John L. Pender & Jeremy G. Weber & Jason P. Brown, 2014. "Sustainable Rural Development and Wealth Creation," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 28(1), pages 73-86, February.
    21. M. V. Chernovalova & I. M. Makarova, 2022. "Development of street lighting systems based on projects in the field of energy conservation and the use of alternative energy sources," Entrepreneur’s Guide, JSC “Publishing Agency “Science and Educationâ€, vol. 15(1).
    22. Zafirakis, Dimitrios & Chalvatzis, Konstantinos J. & Baiocchi, Giovanni & Daskalakis, George, 2013. "Modeling of financial incentives for investments in energy storage systems that promote the large-scale integration of wind energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 138-154.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jäger, Tobias & McKenna, Russell & Fichtner, Wolf, 2015. "Onshore wind energy in Baden-Württemberg: a bottom-up economic assessment of the socio-technical potential," Working Paper Series in Production and Energy 7, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP).
    2. Khanh Hoang, 2022. "How does corporate R&D investment respond to climate policy uncertainty? Evidence from heavy emitter firms in the United States," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(4), pages 936-949, July.
    3. Charles Neumeyer & Robert Goldston, 2016. "Dynamic EROI Assessment of the IPCC 21st Century Electricity Production Scenario," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-15, April.
    4. Degirmenci, Tunahan & Yavuz, Hakan, 2024. "Environmental taxes, R&D expenditures and renewable energy consumption in EU countries: Are fiscal instruments effective in the expansion of clean energy?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 299(C).
    5. Schumacher, Kim & Yang, Zhuoxiang, 2018. "The determinants of wind energy growth in the United States: Drivers and barriers to state-level development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-13.
    6. Silva Herran, Diego & Dai, Hancheng & Fujimori, Shinichiro & Masui, Toshihiko, 2016. "Global assessment of onshore wind power resources considering the distance to urban areas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 75-86.
    7. Alain Ulazia & Ander Nafarrate & Gabriel Ibarra-Berastegi & Jon Sáenz & Sheila Carreno-Madinabeitia, 2019. "The Consequences of Air Density Variations over Northeastern Scotland for Offshore Wind Energy Potential," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-18, July.
    8. Womeldorf, Carole A. & Chimeli, Ariaster B., 2014. "A computational fluid dynamics approach to wind prospecting: Lessons from the U.S. Appalachian region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 645-653.
    9. Hachicha, Fatma & Krichen, Lotfi, 2012. "Rotor power control in doubly fed induction generator wind turbine under grid faults," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 853-861.
    10. Best, Rohan & Burke, Paul J., 2018. "Adoption of solar and wind energy: The roles of carbon pricing and aggregate policy support," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 404-417.
    11. Robert Vermeulen & Edo Schets & Melanie Lohuis & Barbara Kolbl & David-Jan Jansen & Willem Heeringa, 2018. "An energy transition risk stress test for the financial system of the Netherlands," DNB Occasional Studies 1607, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    12. Paul Twomey & Karsten Neuhoff, 2005. "Market Power and Technological Bias: The Case of Electricity Generation," Working Papers EPRG 0501, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    13. Songping Zhu & Gaofeng Yu, 2022. "The Impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty on Industrial Output: The Regulatory Role of Technological Progress," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    14. Hemrit, Wael & Benlagha, Noureddine, 2021. "Does renewable energy index respond to the pandemic uncertainty?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 336-347.
    15. Shrimali, Gireesh & Nelson, David & Goel, Shobhit & Konda, Charith & Kumar, Raj, 2013. "Renewable deployment in India: Financing costs and implications for policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 28-43.
    16. Nie, Bingchuan & Li, Jiachun, 2018. "Technical potential assessment of offshore wind energy over shallow continent shelf along China coast," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(PA), pages 391-399.
    17. Mohandes, M. & Rehman, S. & Rahman, S.M., 2011. "Estimation of wind speed profile using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS)," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 4024-4032.
    18. Gosens, Jorrit, 2017. "Natural resource endowment is not a strong driver of wind or PV development," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1007-1018.
    19. Romano, Antonio A. & Scandurra, Giuseppe & Carfora, Alfonso & Fodor, Mate, 2017. "Renewable investments: The impact of green policies in developing and developed countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 738-747.
    20. Kaundinya, Deepak Paramashivan & Balachandra, P. & Ravindranath, N.H., 2009. "Grid-connected versus stand-alone energy systems for decentralized power--A review of literature," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(8), pages 2041-2050, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:39:y:2011:i:7:p:4207-4214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.