Wind Factory Watch: Four that got away

Readers of this blog will know we've been running a series of posts about new wind equipment factories in the U.S. While I was scanning the news recently, it was striking to note four announcements in two days of wind factories headed to other countries:

– South Korea's Samsung is opening a turbine factory in Windsor, Ontario.

– Germany's Siemens plans a wind turbine blade facility in China and another in Tillsonburg, Ontario.

– Spain's Gamesa plans a wind turbine nacelle factory in Brazil.

The flurry of announcements underlines two things: 1) notwithstanding naysaying by dirty-energy spokespeople, wind is for real, and while new installations have slowed in the U.S., the industry is continuing its rapid global expansion; and 2) the factories, jobs, and economic development will go to the countries where policies favor new wind farms.

Congress urgently needs to extend expiring tax incentives for wind and to enact a Renewable Electricity Standard, which will provide the certainty wind turbine manufacturers need to invest billions of dollars and create thousands of American jobs, while income from wind farms revitalizes rural communities across the heartland.