U.S. wind growth slows as industry steps up call for utility mandate

The discouraging data come as renewable-energy advocates pin their hopes on lame-duck action on Capitol Hill to boost the sector.

Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) have over 30 co-sponsors thus far for legislation that would require utilities to supply 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2021, although a fourth of the mandate could be met with energy efficiency measures.

“U.S. wind energy can again lead the world,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode in a statement. “But if federal policymakers do not act quickly to provide investment certainty through a Renewable Electricity Standard, and longer-term tax policy like our energy-generation competitors enjoy, the U.S. wind industry will stall out.”

The industry is also pushing for longer-term tax credits.

The prospects for the Bingaman-Brownback measure in the lame-duck are highly uncertain.