With my recent move to Minnesota, I get to experience (and report on) a Midwestern perspective in sustainability. While I’ve written about the state previously, many of my articles will now be more focused on the area as most of our writers seem to engage in the issues surrounding their communities. Today’s post will sound a lot like one I wrote last month while I was still living in Colorado. In fact, it’s pretty much the same, just north and east.
According to a report from Minnesota Public Radio, the wind turbine industry in the area is experiencing massive layoffs. Listen to the story:
Just like in Colorado, the looming expiration of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) is being blamed for the cuts. From our previous article, the
Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy . . . was initiated in 1992. Chris’s article “Can U.S. Wind Energy Survive without Government Backing?” hinted at the possibility of drastic cuts due to the anticipated expiration of the PTC. Given the stalemate in Washington, Congress seems entirely unlikely to extend the credit.
Bill Burga, is quoted in the MPR article discussing the looming end of the tax credit. Burga works for LM Wind Power, a Danish company with a turbine production facility in Grand Forks, North Dakota (sometimes referred to as the Saudi Arabia of Wind). He said, in reference to dearth of orders and subsequent downsizing of the company’s labor force, “‘When you take it down like this, it’s like stopping and starting a freight train. It can take a long time to wind it down and a very, very long time to bring it back up.’” He estimates that it could take half a year to restart production if the tax credits are extended.
Congress could act to extend the wind production tax credit before it expires in January. But even if that happens, Burga said it will take at least six months for the industry to get back up to speed. Some companies probably won’t survive the slowdown, he said.
As a result of the slowdown in the US, companies like LM are shifting to growing markets like Brazil, where they are building a manufacturing plant.
MPR reports on other companies affected by the uncertainty. “Fergus Falls-based Otter Tail Corporation recently sold its West Fargo turbine tower manufacturer, leaving more than 200 workers with an uncertain future.” One of the most intriguing consequences in the energy economy is the possibility of facilities being “converted to build rail tank cars or storage tanks for the booming North Dakota oil industry.”
Interestingly, job loss estimates vary widely, but the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development does not track jobs in the wind energy sector, demonstrating that green jobs are still hard to account for despite the first ever census earlier this year.
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