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newsroom
WIND ENERGY BRINGS JOBS TO INDIANA New Facility Is One More Example of National Trend The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) today pointed to the new Brevini USA gearbox manufacturing facility being completed in Muncie, Indiana, as an example of the manufacturing jobs that will be created as wind power expands in the U.S. and the benefits that will flow if our nation generates a larger share of its electricity from renewable sources like wind. “Wind power is a bright spot in our economy, with 24 new wind turbine component manufacturing facilities announced, expanded or completed this year to date,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “However, this bright level of manufacturing activity still lags behind 2008 and what we can achieve. For America to become a manufacturing powerhouse and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, our government needs to signal a firm, long-term policy commitment to renewable energy, in the form of a national renewable electricity standard." Until now, most of the gearboxes installed in U.S. wind turbines have been manufactured overseas. But Brevini’s investment in the U.S. market is one more example of the increasingly large share of wind turbine components now being made by the U.S. workforce—about 50% in 2008, up from less than 30% in 2005. Brevini’s decision to invest in Indiana was based on the prospects that increased use of wind energy in the U.S. will create a market for the gearboxes. The facility will employ 450 workers once production is up to full capacity. The growing domestic manufacturing trend is encouraging but far from secure. AWEA’s 3 rd quarter market report showed that new wind turbine manufacturing facility announcements were down by a third this last quarter compared to 2008. In 2008 36 new facilities were announced in the first three quarters of the year, versus 24 new announcements this year during the same period. The wind industry is therefore pressing state legislatures and Congress to adopt pro-wind policies, especially a Renewable Electricity Standard that will create the demand for wind, and the jobs that go with the new industry.
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