Industrial Wind Action Group: AWEA's employment claims questioned
Industrial Wind Action Group: AWEA's employment claims questioned
Data supporting the American Wind Energy Association's employment claims are spongy at best.
In 2007, AWEA touted that the industry represented 50,000 employees in the U.S., a figure that jumped to 85,000 in 2008. Twenty thousand of these jobs were in manufacturing but according to AWEA CEO, Denise Bode, this dropped by 1500-2000 jobs in 2009 due to recession-related plant closings and layoffs. However, the total 85,000 figure did not change owing to a corresponding increase in construction and maintenance activity.
But the 20,000 person number appears suspect. According to the 2010 US Trade Commission report on turbine manufacturing trends (table, page 8) there are 17 existing manufacturing facilities for blades, nacelles, and other turbine components in the United States. Assuming 500 employees on average for each of these 17 plants, there are 8,500 people employed in the manufacturing of turbine components. [1]
Even if we allow AWEA 18,500 jobs in manufacturing (assumes 1500 jobs lost in 2009) and using Duke Energy's number of 0.1 jobs per megawatt to operate a wind energy facility, total U.S. jobs dedicated to the manufacturing and operation come to only 22,100 (18,500 manufacturing jobs plus 3,600 operation jobs on 36,000 megawatts of installed wind). This means that over 60,000 of the jobs cited by AWEA are involved in construction and transport.
Since construction jobs are not permanent the industry would need to meet peak levels of development year after year just to maintain the 85,000 jobs it now touts. This is clearly not sustainable. We will be looking closely at the jobs numbers for 2010 and reconciling this figure with the amount in stimulus monies lavished on projects. Given recent forecasts that show a significant drop in megawatts installed this year, we expect to see a drop in the jobs count.
[1] Average employment figure per plant may be much lower based on table 5, page 17 of this report which cites 2797 employed for 8 plants or 350 employees on average per plant.
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Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
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(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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