Governor Strickland proposed sweeping reforms to the way deregulated electric companies handle our business today (8/29/07). He called for rule changes to promote more competition among wholesale providers, but also action to spur the state's renewable energy economy.
Most notably, the democratic governor called for the creation of a Advanced Energy Portfolio Standard (AEPS) which mandates that electric utilities produce 25% of the state's power from so-called advanced resources (which includes "clean" coal and nuclear), but with at least 12% of that coming from renewable resources such as wind, solar and geothermal by 2025. All of Strickland's proposals need legislative approval.
If it passes, an AEPS would be welcome news for those working on renewable energy projects, such as Cuyahoga County's offshore wind farm and R&D center. That project promises to invest millions in public funds in the hopes of attracting and spurring a homegrown renewable systems manufacturing. Analysts looking at the county's deal and at the efficacy of AEPS's in other states have said unequivocally that it dramatically improves their ability to attract renewable energy companies (in Pennsylvania, an AEPS is credited with attracting Spanish wind power company Gamesa to open a plant, and in Iowa it's credited with attracting three wind turbine manufacturing facilities: Bergey Wind Power, Wind Turbine Industries and Southwest Wind Power).
How important is an AEPS for Ohio? Nonprofit group Environment Ohio produced a jobs study this week that argues forcing utilities to generate 20 percent of their total production with wind turbines by 2020 would create the equivalent of 3,000 permanent jobs, increase wages paid by a cumulative net total of $3.7 billion and prepare Ohio for global warming.
Wind energy=manufacturing jobs
Marc Lefkowitz Says:How many permanent jobs will the proposed coal-burning power plant in southeast Ohio—which Amp-Ohio member Cleveland Public Power will be supporting—bring to the state? On the flip side, how many permanent, higher wage manufacturing jobs would a wind turbine manufacturing facility or solar panel manufacturer bring to the state if it passed an RPS? DMI Canada, a tier one supplier to wind turbine OEMs featured in the December issue of North American Clean Energy has some thoughts about the connection between wind energy and manufacturing jobs.
“DMI Industries retrofitted an inactive automotive parts plant (like the Ford assembly plant in Cleveland!) into a productive wind tower plant in Fort Erie, Ontario in 2006 and in one year we have hired 170 people from the local community,” writes general manager Paul Smith. “We also employ local services and manufacturing companies to support our operations, and we contribute to the community directly through increased tax revenues and support of local businesses and social agencies. As a responsible manufacturer, we are also constantly looking for ways to improve our operations’ environmental performance through energy conservation, emissions reduction and reclamation of raw materials.”
When was the last time you heard a coal-burning power plant make that sort of statement?
Ontario, like Northeast Ohio, has lost 180,000 manufacturing jobs in the past four years.
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