THE MOST WIND JOBS

Fact Sheet: Policy Design for Maximizing U.S. Wind Energy Jobs
Lutz Weischer, September 15, 2010 (World Resources Institute)

"The United States could become a leader in wind energy jobs with the right policies in place…Several studies show that wind power creates more jobs than power generation from fossil fuels…[I]t creates jobs in both manufacturing and skilled scientific, engineering, and service roles. However, compared to other large regional markets for wind, the United States has yet to reach its full job creation potential…[Jobs] are likely to follow…[wind projects and] be located close to installation sites, including project development and planning, construction and installation, and operations and maintenance jobs…[M]ost of the manufacturing jobs will be local too…

"… Wind power companies tend to set up regional production hubs and create jobs in each of the major markets…[G]lobal wind turbine makers prefer to invest locally because it is a smart economic decision…[T]urbines – bulky and hard-to-transport – makes shipping expensive…[I]mporting them only makes sense if companies do not want to invest in permanent manufacturing facilities in a given market because the support policies are too unstable…[W]ith the right policies in place, more manufacturing capacity would be developed in the United States and the share of domestic components in wind turbines would continue to increase."

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"Job growth in the wind industry is driven by wind power demand. The countries that lead in wind energy jobs are those that offer a stable and predictable framework for investment in wind power generation. The countries leading development of wind energy use a range of support policies…including feed-in-tariffs and renewable energy standards…[A] price on carbon would send investors a long-term market signal and allow wind power to become competitive with fossil fuels, increasing the overall demand for turbines and equipment and thus the number of jobs…

"…[Such policies guarantee] predictable returns to wind energy investors, but do not provide a direct government subsidy. In contrast, in the United States, federal support for the wind industry has been through the production tax credit (PTC), subject to periodic renewal. In years where the PTC expired, new wind investments collapsed. Large wind markets with stable long-term financial support in the forms of a feed-in tariff, such as Germany and Spain, have seen more constant market expansions and job creation."

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"…[T]he wind industry has experienced a period of rapid growth recently, as state-level support programs have grown and Congress renewed the production tax credit from 2005 on. In 2008 alone, 55 new facilities producing wind turbines and components opened. All of the 11 leading global wind turbine manufacturers that sell a significant number of turbines in the United States now also operate production facilities in the country or plan to begin operating in 2010. The domestic content of turbines installed in the United States has risen from an average of less than 20 percent in the period 2001–2006 to over 50 percent in 2008…

"To maximize wind energy job growth in the United States, Congress should…[pass] a strong renewable energy standard, creating predictable demand for wind power…[And pass] a comprehensive climate and energy bill that sets a price on carbon, making wind power competitive with fossil fuel energy and providing wind power investors with the clear long-term market signal they need."