This paper assesses the cost effectiveness of wind energy policy options by using a cost benefit analysis approach. In comparison with other studies, the main contribution of this paper is the use of real financial and operational information of 318 wind projects in Spain between 2006 and 2013. The projects represent 83% of total new wind capacity additions in Spain during the 2006-2013 period. Under real market conditions, it is found that the most cost effective option for promoting wind energy development from the government perspective is to use an investment credit policy given the capital intensive nature of wind technology. The analysis shows that an investment credit yields similar results as other policy options like feed-in tariffs and feed-in premiums, but at a cheaper cost and with less risk to the taxpayers or electricity consumers because costs do not fluctuate with electricity market prices. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).