NEW ENERGY: GOOD WORK AND YOU CAN GET IT

The Senate will open debate Monday on whether New Energy incentives in the form of extensions for existing production tax credits (PTCs) and investment tax credits (ITCs) will stay in the economic stimulus package. There is stiff competition among special interests for the big money in that bill.

There are plenty of numbers justifying New Energy’s claim on a place in any self-respecting economic stimulus package. While the overall economy and many individual sectors were fading in 2007, New Energy boomed, thanks to the PTCs and ITCs in place over the last 3 years. It makes no sense to mess with a formula of incentives and enterprise serving the U.S. economy like that. But maybe a good old-fashioned story can get across what numbers don’t.

A Maytag factory in Newton, Iowa, closed last year. 1800 workers lost their jobs. TPI Composites Inc., a wind turbine blade manufacturer that had been a boat builder until 2001, went after that workforce. It will turn 500 Maytag people into wind energy people in the next 3 years – IF a change in incentives doesn’t stop industry growth short. Steve Lockard, CEO, TPI: "[We want to] transform the workforce away from the Maytag-type jobs of the past into jobs that can withstand the test of time going forward."

Green collar jobs generally pay well and carry benefits. Many technicians are recruited from the military, the oil industry or from agricultural areas. Some come from inner cities. Green collar jobs perfectly suit the U.S. manufacturing work force but will certainly migrate overseas if the New Energy industries that provide them are allowed to falter. Rhone Resch, president, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA): "These are jobs that are really the backbone of the economy, jobs like roofers, carpenters, electricians and plumbers…But the federal government is completely asleep at the switch here."

If the PTCs and ITCs are rejected from this stimulus package now and forced to wait until later for passage, big projects now being planned will be put on hold until political circumstances change and a year of growth could easily be lost. Randall Swisher, executive director, American Wind Energy Association (AWEA): "Already companies that have invested millions of dollars in this industry are getting nervous…"

U.S.News & World Report blogger Marianne Lavelle points out that New Energy’s PTCs and ITCs were already rejected by recalcitrant Senators when considered for the 2007 energy bill pushed through by the Bush administration. But, Lavelle reports, the incentives might survive in this legislation because no proposal like the one in the energy bill shifts fossil fuel industry tax breaks and subsidies to New Energy. Instead, this money would come from the economic stimulus spending.

Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Pete Domenici (R-NM) are reportedly stepping up to invest in New Energy. Will such votes tip the balance? Maybe. 3 "yes" votes will be out campaigning for President Monday. Let's hope they have somebody carrying their proxies. If not, New Energy is still 1 or 2 votes shy. The provisions were drummed out of the 2007 energy bill by 1 vote.

It would be plain foolish to cut off incentives from industries generating this kind of revenue and employment when the economy is teetering. (click to enlarge)

Speak out TODAY for New Energy incentives. Click through to Power of Wind and email Congress. Tell your elected leaders you want New Energy.

Jobs in Renewable Energy Industry Seen As Path to Prosperity but Help NeededBrian Skoloff, February 1, 2008 (AP via Yahoo Finance)
and
Alternative Energy and the Stimulus Debate
Marianne Lavelle, January 31, 2008 (U.S. News & World Report)
and
Wind Farms Need Techs to Keep Running
David Twiddy, February 2, 2008 (AP)

WHO
TPI Composites Inc. (Steve Lockard, CEO); Senate Finance Committee (Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman); American Wind Energy Association(Randall Swisher, executive director); Solar Energy Industries Association (Rhone Resch, president); Renewable Energy Policy Project (George Sterzinger, executive director)

WHAT
New Energy financial incentives in the form of production tax credit (PTC) and investment tax credit (ITC) extensions were inserted by the Senate Finance Committee into the Senate’s version of the economic stimulus package. Will the incentives survive when the full Senate takes up the committee’s amendments to the package proposed by President Bush and passed January 30 by the House?

Properly nurtured, the renewable energy industries will continue to expand for decades. (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The tax credit extensions were eliminated from the 2007 energy bill.
- When tax credits were allowed to expire in 2004, wind energy production fell 77%.
- The tax credits were last approved in 2004 and will expire at the end of 2008 if legislators do not extend them.
- The Senate Finance Committee amendment would extend the tax credits through the end of 2009.
- Estimates are that 800 new technicians will be needed for the wind turbines expected to be installed in 2008.

WHERE
- TPI Composites Inc. is based in Phoenix, AZ.
- New Energy advocates also want more funding for job training programs than the $125 million provided by the 2007 energy bill.
- There is a present a shortage of technicians in the wind energy industry. Training programs are springing up in community colleges around the U.S.

Solar and wind are not the only energies where employment will grow. (click to enlarge)

WHY
- Reports on the amount of money in the Finance Committee incentives measure vary from $5.5 billion to $10 billion, probably depending on how the calculation is done.
- New Energy jobs usually pay well and offer benefits. They require training but many companies, like TPI, train on the job.
- Wind energy installed 3200 turbines, employed 45,000+ in the U.S. and had $9 billion in investments in 2007, a 45% growth. The industry expects to employ a half-million new in manufacturing, construction and operation by 2030.
- Wind energy requires special technicians that know mechanics, hydraulics, computers and meteorology and will climb 200 feet in the air in all kinds of weather. A 2-man team services 7-10 turbines. Wind energy technicians can earn over $25/hour.
- The solar energy industry installed a record 314 megawatts in 2007. Its $2 billion value was only $200 million 5 years ago.

New Energy jobs range from high income professional to green collar technician positions. (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
- Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council: "[New Energy offers] an opportunity to restore some of the 3 million jobs in manufacturing we've lost in the last seven years…"
- Robert Hughes, currently unemployed 21-year Maytag employee: "I'm encouraging my grandkids to go to college and further their education and get into something other than manufacturing because it doesn't really hold a promising future…"
- George Sterzinger, executive director, Renewable Energy Policy Project: "You look at a wind turbine. It's got a whole bunch of parts. Somebody makes the blades, somebody makes the tower, somebody makes the gear boxes, the electronic controls…Those parts can come from China, India -- or from Buffalo."
- Jason Martinson, wind farm supervisor, Enel North America Inc: "Finding experienced techs is impossible with wind growing as fast as it is…You get one year's worth of experience and it's like dog years."
- Bruce Graham, head, Kansas community college wind technician training program: "It's phenomenal…I could go out on the Internet and find 500 [$20 to $25/hour wind technician] jobs right now that are open and they want someone right now."