Proposed legislation aimed at keeping the cash flowing to US wind power projects has industry players concerned about how changes to the way the money is paid will impact on their financing strategies. Projects that start construction this year and come online by the end of 2012 are eligible for a cash grant covering 30% of their costs. A new bill, introduced in February by Earl Blumenauer, a US Congressman from Oregon for the centre-left Democratic Party, would extend the construction-start deadline to the end of 2012, something the industry has been pushing for. But it would also convert the cash grant to a refundable tax credit.
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