Wind industry legislation introduced again this year

RICHMOND — A Virginia Beach senator is again introducing bills in the General Assembly directed at simplifying regulations attached to commercial wind energy utilities — making it easier for them to be approved, and allowing up to 80 percent of their value to be exempt from local and state taxes.

Sen. Frank Wagner (R-Va. Beach) put proposals on the table to redefine what constitutes smaller wind plants in an effort to make it easier for such facilities to get approved.

This year, Senate Bill 1347 was filed Jan. 14 to amend the Code of Virginia, adding sections to related to wind energy projects, the permitting process for them, and the taxes involved.

The bill proposes that wind utilities with a capacity of less than 100 megawatts be exempt from State Corporation Commission approval, and instead be permitted Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality.

Limits on the duration and financial obligations would be imposed when it comes to monitoring a utility's effect on wildlife.

Also, any SCC process involving a wind developer's application for a certificate to operate would be required to be completed within nine months.

Also, the proposal sets an investment tax credit which allows a taxpayer to get credit against income taxes equal to 35 percent of the cost of constructing, buying or leasing turbines and towers. The credit can be claimed over a five-year period.

The bill also establishes turbines and towers as personal property used for abating or preventing pollution and exempts 80 percent of their value from state and local taxes.

The bill has been referred to the Committee on Commerce and Labor; Wagner is its only patron. There are similar proposals introduced in the House.

Wagner's other bill (SB 324) reintroduces the proposal to exclude any company generating renewable electricity from a facility of 50 megawatts or less from being defined as a public utility, and exempts them from the Utility Facilities Act.