Saturday, January 31, 2009

Wind Farm Jobs at Wind Farm Companies

The U.S. added about 8,300 megawatts of wind generating capacity in 2008. That is enough electricity for about 8.3 million homes. There are about 130 million homes in the USA (Census).

According to the Renewable Energy Policy Project in Washington, D.C., each megawatt of wind capacity installed in the U.S. creates 4.85 full-time jobs, of which 3.4 come from making components -- which is done mostly outside the U.S. The remainder come from such services as installation and maintenance. Many of the wind turbine components are assembled in China, Korea and the Phillipines

General Electric Energy.

American Superconductor Corporation of Devens, Massachusetts: designs wind turbines and licenses its designs to other companies, then helps them build manufacturing facilities.


SunPower Corporation of San Jose, California: assembles solar cells into solar panels in China and the Philippines, even when the finished product is destined for California, a state that is spending heavily on renewable power.

Oerlikon Solar USA: a seller of plants that make thin-film solar modules, has sold 10 plants so far but none of the buyers is setting up a plant in the U.S. (The Wall Street Journal, 1/31/09)

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