It took a lobbying blitz and a little bit of luck, but the wind industry eventually got its hoped-for reprieve in Tuesday’s fiscal cliff deal.

As part of the bargain, Congress extended a key tax credit for wind energy for another year — at a cost of some $12 billion over 10  years. Not only that, but Congress made a small tweak: Wind producers won’t have to finish their projects by 2013 to qualify for the production tax credit. They’ll just have to begin building this year. That’s a crucial change that could give the U.S. wind industry a boost in the decade ahead.

Yet even with the tax credit renewal, the wind industry is still likely to slump in 2013. And that’s partly because congressional support for wind is extremely erratic — never steady, and always on the verge of expiration.

via The fiscal cliff deal helped wind power. But our wind policy is still insane..