The Year Ahead/Energy
America’s Wind Farms Are Ready to Go It Alone
With tax credits expiring, it’s time for the industry to grow up.
The GE-Alstom Block Island Wind Farm off Block Island, Rhode Island.
Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
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A coming-of-age moment is bearing down on the U.S. wind power industry, and proponents say it’s ready—well, mostly ready.
For a quarter-century, the industry has been supported by federal tax credits that helped it attract $250 billion in investments and create 100,000 jobs, according to the American Wind Energy Association. That support ends next year, but analysts and executives say the credits have done what they were supposed to do: make the industry competitive.