 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
publications Windletter View from Washington Manufacturing jobs are among the highest-profile signs of the industry’s impact on the economy, but activity from wind energy is rippling through other sectors as well. By Mary Kate Francis While the wind industry often touts its job creation in the manufacturing sector, there is another segment of the economy that is reaping the economic benefits of wind power: transportation. Wind energy has a multifaceted impact on the transportation sector, for it requires the use of ships, rail cars, trucks, and ports to move equipment from manufacturing facilities to construction sites. One of the places where wind’s economic impact is most visible is at ports—almost as visible as at the very project development sites where turbines and towers are rising from the ground, or at manufacturing plants, where well-paid workers are busy building components to keep up with insatiable demand. As the wind industry grows at a rapid pace, the clean renewable energy source is modifying the face and the pace of business at American harbors. Growth in jobs around the country Several port authorities are able to define job growth in wind industry terms. Betty Nowak, marketing manager at the Port of Milwaukee, reports a 500% increase in labor hours worked by longshoremen at the dock over the last five years, as wind industry equipment has increasingly passed through the harbor. At the Port of Longview, meanwhile, labor hours worked by union members in unloading wind energy components at the port's docks grew from 1,257 in 2003 to over 21,000 in 2006, according to Marie Wise, communications and public affairs manager at the port. She notes that the growth in labor hours reflects both job creation and an overall upswing in the local economy. At the Port of Vancouver, Alastair Smith, senior director of marketing and operations, reports an additional hire of 26 longshoremen in 2007, and an overall increase in employees of about 50% over the last five years—both statistics of which are "significantly, but not fully, attributable to the wind industry." Smith notes that that the work of handling wind project cargo requires a substantially larger amount of labor hours than other types of freight; thus, without the wind energy business, his port would not have seen as much job growth. Gary Nicholson, president of Lake Superior Warehousing Co., attributes the significant employment growth at the Port of Duluth-Superior to the substantial increase in the port’s handling of wind industry equipment. "We have experienced an increase in wind turbine component shipments that is between two and three times as much as what we’ve handled before…resulting in at least a doubling of wages at the port directly," says Nicholson, speaking of the past year. Nicholson also notes that this increase has indirectly boosted the local economy, with transportation services, highway patrol escorts, and local hotels and restaurants all having experienced upticks in business. Policy support as a catalyst for growth “A lot of our future success depends on government regulations and tax credits,” Roby notes. In that regard, he acknowledges that his trust in the continued strength of the industry comes from the state of Texas’s commitment to generate 5,580 MW of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015. Vancouver’s Smith also envisions steadily increasing business from the wind industry. “We supported eight different projects [in 2007],” says Smith. That’s up from previous years, in which the port supported about one project annually since 2002. Citing Washington’s and Oregon’s renewable electricity standards, Smith says that the port expects to have increasing business relations with the wind industry, and ultimately “will benefit” from these policies. Certainly, a steady policy environment for wind is encouraging several ports to make investments in their facilities. The Port of Vancouver is considering an investment of approximately $4.5 million in a second mobile harbor crane in 2008, reports Smith. Additionally, the port is making a $75-$80 million investment to increase its rail capacity from 45,000 to 160,000 rail cars. The project will create a “capacity and velocity increase” in the port’s ability to move wind industry components from one stage of the transportation process to another, ultimately enabling “much more efficient operation,” Smith says. At the Port of Longview, meanwhile, the 2008 budget includes $4.5 million for purchase of a mobile harbor crane, reports Wise. She says this investment will enable the port to “maintain a sustainable market position in the wind energy industry.” Longview, like many other ports, is also clearing acreage adjacent to its terminal for temporary storage of wind turbine components. A piece of the action Meeting the transportation needs of the wind industry often requires investments by ports, but it also brings a large financial return. So, as ports like Beaumont and Milwaukee enjoy the economic benefits of being a link on the wind energy industry supply chain, other harbors are seeking to get in on the action. The Port of Lake Charles, La., for one, is looking to broaden the type of cargo it handles from mainly grains and forest products to wind industry components. Derek Schierloh, manager of marketing and trade development, reports that Lake Charles is in the process of spending approximately $125 million on developing the port and its three terminals for this purpose. The port is also in the process of building a loop track to enable trains to be moved around the terminal without disconnecting the cars; in addition, the port is considering nearly doubling its 16 acres of open paved storage space to 30 acres in order to better accommodate the wind industry. Invariably, such ports want a piece of what Nicholson and others are already experiencing: the rewards of joining wind power’s supply chain. "In a general way, [the wind industry] has had a very positive economic impact on our port…," Nicholson says. "We just keep trying every day to do the right thing, execute our work every day so [the business] keeps coming back…We’re doing everything we can to serve the industry. We’re very proud to be a part of it." Mary Kate Francis is advocacy communications specialist at AWEA.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|