The Chinese Turbine Debate

Over the weekend I heard a bit about the recent scandal of using Federal stimulus dollars to purchase Chinese wind turbines. I'll be reading more about this event in the next few days, as we all will, but I'd like to share a few thoughts I have about this article in the New York Times.

Of course the AWEA is already all over this. They point out that not all of the turbine parts are being made in China, logistically it’s better to manufacture some of the larger components here rather than pay expensive shipping costs. And of course as any bystander would realize, while it is important to develop the manufacturing side of the nation’s wind industry, manufacturing is only part of the picture. The project in question will install 240 wind turbines. We can expect each one of those to last about 20 years. If you figure 2 turbine techs will be required to maintain every 10 turbines, importing parts from China will create 48 long term jobs, not counting the supervisory and administrative positions.

We also have to consider the construction positions, the money to made transporting parts, and the manufacture of replacement parts and tools. Not to mention that buying from China can get 600 megawatts of clean energy into our mix sooner, that’s clean, renewable energy for 180,000 homes. So while Senator Schumer’s efforts to protect American manufacturing are laudable, it doesn’t make much sense at the moment for Energy Secretary Steven Chu to obey Schumer’s demand to “reject any request for stimulus money unless the high-value components, including the wind turbines, are manufactured in the United States.”

In this economy it is more important to get the dollars and jobs these turbines will create than to cut out a vital supplier. Of course we hope American manufacturing can become increasingly competitive with China, but the green revolution is shaping up to be one that will take place in a global economy.