Solar & Battery Regulation & Incentive Programs

Special Assessment for Wind Energy Systems

Program Overview


Category:
Financial Incentive
Program Type:
Property Tax Incentive
Implementing Sector:
State
State:
West Virginia
Eligible Storage Technologies:
Wind (All), Wind (Small)
Incentive Amount:
Property tax basis reduced to approximately 25% of assessed value
Administrator:
West Virginia Division of Energy
Applicable Sectors:
Investor-Owned Utility, Municipal Utilities, Cooperative Utilities
Last Updated:
06/29/2020

Summary

For the purposes of property tax assessment, utility-owned wind projects are considered to have a value equal to their salvage value, with certain limitations. This incentive effectively lowers the property tax base on utility-owned wind turbines from 100% of fair market value to as little as 24.95% of fair market value.* This results in an effective property tax rate on wind turbines that is 24.95% of the effective tax rate on most other types of newly constructed electricity-generating units.

*The law states that up to 79% of the total property may be assigned salvage value. Salvage value of a pollution control facility, of which a wind turbine is considered for assessment purposes, is 5%. Therefore, if 79% of the property is valued at 5% (salvage value), and the remaining 21% of the property is valued at 100%, the effective value for property tax purposes is 24.95%.


Authorities

NameEnacted DateEffective DateExpired Date
W. Va. Code § 11-6A-5a5/20017/2001
Guide for County Assessors07/01/2011