Wind power soars but manufacturing jobs stall – report

Incentives in the 2009 stimulus law helped U.S. wind power capacity soar last year, shaking off the sour economy, but manufacturing jobs in the industry dropped, according to a new American Wind Energy Association report.

The industry added a record-breaking 9,900 megawatts of new power generation capacity last year, a 39 percent expansion that was enough to power over 2.4 million homes, according to the trade group. Overall U.S. capacity is now over 35,000 megawatts.

The stimulus included new support for renewable power, including an initiative that allows developers to apply for federal grants in lieu of traditional tax credit financing, which dried up during the economic downturn.

But manufacturing jobs have stalled even as employment in building and operating wind farms grew.

“The continuing lack of a long-term policy and market signal caused total investment in the manufacturing sector to drop compared to 2008, with one-third fewer online, announced and expanded wind power manufacturing facilities in 2009. The result was net job losses in the manufacturing sector, which were compounded by low orders due to high inventory,” the report states.

Denise Bode, the trade group’s CEO, called the manufacturing job losses the “canary in the mine” for the sector and called for “long term policy certainty” to counter the problem.

The industry is pressing for a national renewable electricity standard that would require utilities to supply escalating amounts of power from sources like wind, solar and biomass. Pending House and Senate energy bills include the mandate, but the industry has called the targets in the plans too modest.