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WASHINGTON, DC, US, 2004-10-20 (Refocus Weekly) Production of more wind turbines in the United States would create most jobs in the 20 states where employment has dropped the most during the past three years
Boosting installations of turbines by eight times current levels could create 150,000 manufacturing jobs across the country, according to the Renewable Energy Policy Project. Ninety companies in 25 states currently manufacture turbine components, and 16,000 companies in all 50 states have the technical potential to enter the growing turbine market.
“Wind energy is already a boon for communities across the American heartland, and could become an important source of manufacturing jobs nationwide, including in some areas that have been hardest hit by job losses,” says Randall Swisher of the American Wind Energy Association. “The stunning figures from this first systematic study of wind energys job creation potential in the U.S. demonstrate that clean, safe, domestic wind energy can also bring manufacturing jobs back to the states that need them most.”
Turbine installations in the U.S. have increased 300% over the past five years, from 2,000 MW in 1998 to 6,000 MW in 2003, and windfarms generate enough electricity now for 1.6 million homes. The REPP report estimates the extent and location of manufacturing activities that could result from an expansion to 50,000 MW, which would inject $50 billion of investment into the economy and generate enough electricity for 15 million homes, or 3% of national electricity supply.
“The results of our study indicate that a significant national investment in wind has clear potential to benefit the entire country economically, with tens of thousands of new jobs created and billions of dollars in economic activity,” says George Sterzinger of REPP. “However, capturing that potential and creating a competitive domestic manufacturing industry in the face of international competition is likely to require additional incentives.”
The study identifies companies that are currently active in manufacturing gearboxes, generators, transformers, blades, towers and other turbine components, adding that they currently are located in 25 states including some that have recently experienced the largest number of job losses. It found 16,163 other firms are involved in related manufacturing activities and are based in all 50 states.
The study examined job creation in manufacturing, and did not quantify the impact in other sectors such as construction, transportation, marketing and financial.
“If wind development is seen solely as an effort to put new turbines on-line, then the benefits of development will be seen as largely accruing to the communities and states that have good wind resources and can host the developments,” the report notes. “A federal Renewable Portfolio Standard will certainly benefit states and communities in the Upper Plains because these states have excellent wind resources and open spaces for project development. However, the benefits of a federal RPS are not limited to the localities where the installations occur.”
“A large wind development program will also stimulate manufacturing activity in communities distant from where the actual installations occur,” and the job creation potential related to new wind developments “looks something like a pyramid” with 70% of potential job creation in manufacturing the components, 17% in installation, and 13% in operations and maintenance. “A national program could easily lead to the development over a period of years of 50,000 to 77,000 MW or $50 to $77 billion in investments that would in turn drive new orders for manufacturing related to all the components that are required to build a new wind generator.”
“The wind industry in the United States is small compared to the European industry in part because the European Union countries have already committed to a major program of technology development and installation,” it notes. “For the United States, the potential of wind development to stimulate a domestic manufacturing industry could be an important reason for developing the wind industry.”
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