“Clean tech has seen a boost as the US pours government funding into renewable energy, and China looks to reap much of the benefits. Latest example is a Chinese wind-turbine company which is the exclusive supplier for one of the largest wind-farm developments in the US,” reports Jeremy Hsu. He adds, “This comes as the US has increasingly out-sourced much of its wind turbine development. Less than a quarter of wind turbine components installed in the US came from domestic production.” Just 15 percent of the 2,800 new jobs from wind turbine development will take the form of US jobs. (1)
We are helping to subsidize jobs in China with American taxpayer-supplied stimulus money
We are helping to subsidize jobs in China with American taxpayer-supplied stimulus money and going into further debt to the Chinese at the same time. (2)
Evergreen Solar was at one time all the rage in Massachusetts. It was making the breakthrough technology that would supposedly transform the energy economy. State officials provided over $60 million in taxpayer funds to build a plant in Devens, Massachusetts. But the plan, and the plant failed because Evergreen’s operating costs in the state were simply too high, even with the $60 million hand-out. Evergreen Solar has shuttered the plant, has fired 800 workers, and is now moving the operation to China. (3)
Sinovel, a state-owned company based in Beijing that is China’s largest wind-turbine manufacturer, has signed a contract with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to provide a 1.5 megawatt wind turbine. The machine will provide electricity for a wastewater pumping station in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston. The turbine accounts for about half of the $4.7 million cost of the project, which is in development and is being financed with money from the federal economic stimulus package. (4)
Ming Yang Wind Power Group, China’s fifth-largest wind-turbine manufacturer, and its largest privately held wind power company, has opened a sales office in Dallas. Recently, the company raised $350 million in an initial public offering in New York, in a deal led by Morgan Stanley. This is part of $6 billion raised in 2010 through initial public offerings by six Chinese wind turbine and wind farm companies reports Tom Zeller and Keith Bradsher. (4)
Keith Bradsher also reports, “With their government-bestowed blessings, Chinese companies have flourished and now control almost half of the $45 billion global market for wind turbines. The biggest of those players are now taking aim at foreign markets, particularly in the United States, where General Electric has long been the leader. Wind is headed in the direction of other technologies like desktop computers and solar panels, where Chinese companies acquire the latest Western technology by various means and then take advantage of government policies to become the world’s dominant low-cost supplier. It is a pattern that many economists say could be repeated in other fields, like high-speed trains and nuclear reactors, unless China changes the way it plays the technology development game—or is forced to by its global trading partners.” (5)
The Chinese companies can play a patient game because they have big backing from China’s government in the form of low-interest loans and other blandishments. Many of the Chinese policies are thought to be potential World Trade Organization violations, and the Obama administration is investigating these issues. (4)
Solar is also seeing similar issues. Geoffrey Lean reported in July 2009, “In just two years, China’s production of solar panels soared tenfold, making it the world’s largest manufacturer, and this is expected to multiply 10 time over again by 2015 as it exports them.” (6)
Summary
The intent of green jobs was supposedly about creating jobs in America. Marita Noon asks, “Have we as a country become so enamored with ‘alternative energy’ that no on looks at what it takes or where the ‘green jobs’ are being created? Shouldn’t we have straight talk, not happy talk? Shouldn’t we have facts not feel good?” (7)
References
- Jeremy Hsu, “Huge Texas Wind Farm’s Turbines Will Be Made in China,” popsi.com/technology, October 30, 2009
- Joseph A. Klein, “$450 Million in US Stimulus Money Going to Reid And Obama Donor-Backed Chinese ‘Green’ Company,” Canada Free Press, December 10, 2010
- “Inhofe Hearing Statement: Green Jobs and Trade,” Canada Free Press, February 15, 2011
- Tom Zeller, Jr. and Keith Bradsher, “Wind Power for Boston, Made in China,” The New York Times, December 15, 2010
- Keith Bradsher, “To Conquer Wind Power, China Writes the Rules,” The New York Times, December 14, 2010
- Geoffrey Lean, “Green ‘revolution’ left blowing in the wind,” The Telegraph, July 15, 2009
- Marita K. Noon, “The economic impact of green jobs,” challenging climate.org, July 21, 2009
