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The largest proposed onshore wind project in the United States does not need a recently expired federal tax credit to be commercially viable, the head of the company planning to build 1,000 turbines in Carbon County said this week.

Bill Miller, Power Company of Wyoming CEO, said the 3,000-megawatt Chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind farm would benefit from the 2.3-cent kilowatt-hour tax credit, which Congress allowed to expire Jan. 1.

Electricity generated by the nearly $5 billion facility would be cheaper for utilities and consumers alike if Congress were to renew the credit, Miller said.

Still, he said, the wind farm will proceed regardless of what lawmakers decide.

"Because of the size and the quality of the resource we have for the project, this project can be done without the production tax credit," Miller said in an interview Tuesday. "Quite frankly, though, it would be very beneficial to the project and the market if it were available, but it is not necessary for it to be viable. There are probably not a lot of projects today that could say it doesn’t matter. It does matter, but it is not absolutely required."