Wind Company Loses Tax Credit and Tariff Battle in Iowa

Another tariff and tax credit battle between a wind industry company and a state has ended in loss for the wind operators.

It’s happened in Iowa where the State’s Utilities Board refused to grant MidAmerican Energy Co. an exemption from a tariff that would have allowed the company to keep federal production tax credit revenue. It involved a project to re-power 706 older wind turbines.

The ruling sided with the Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate along with technology companies Facebook and Google. They had challenged MidAmerican’s request.

The company is refurbishing more than 1,000 megawatts of wind turbines and claimed the move would have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits for consumers as well as environmental benefits.

Under IRS rules, wind farm operators are allowed to re-qualify for the production tax credit for another 10 years. MidAmerican is in the process of re-powering 1.5 MW turbines originally installed between 2004 and 2008.