WIND ENERGY
CREATES AMERICAN JOBS
Right Here in Illinois
The wind industry supports more than 80,700 American-made jobs around
the country and is paving the way toward 100% clean energy for America.
With the right policies in place, the wind industry could support 500,000
jobs by 2030. Already, states like Iowa and South Dakota generate more
than 20 percent of their electricity from wind power, and the wind industry
is on track to produce 20 percent of America’s electricity by 2030. Over 500
American manufacturing plants build wind components, keeping jobs close
to home.
INVESTING IN WIND ENERGY CREATES
AMERICAN JOBS
The PTC was created in 1992 to help level the playing field
pollution, prevent heart attacks, asthma attacks and save
for clean energy industries such as wind and geothermal.
our economy more than $100 billion in health care costs.
Since then, the PTC has propelled the wind industry
forward - reducing wind electricity costs by 90 percent,
creating more than 80,000 jobs, and helping wind become
competitive with traditional energy sources. Wind can now
power 15 million American homes and businesses. With
stable federal policy, it will be able to power many millions
more in the years to come.
Moving America towards a clean energy future will not
only create new, high quality American jobs, but it will
also have significant public health benefits. Expanding
renewable energy production will significantly decrease air
EXPIRED POLICIES MEAN AMERICAN JOBS ARE AT
RISK IN Illinois
The Production Tax Credit (PTC), a federal policy that
helps level the playing field and has been a key driver in
wind-industry job growth over the past decade, expired at
the end of 2013.
Congress’s failure to extend the PTC has dried up
orders for new wind turbines and created a crisis where
thousands of layoffs are imminent. Already, in Edensburg,
PA, Gamesa announced that it would close its Western
Pennsylvania wind turbine factory. The plant, located
outside Pittsburgh, employed more than 300 United
Steelworkers at its height, helping bring jobs back to a
struggling region and hope back to struggling American
Facts:
Wind Projects in Illinois
• Installed Wind Capacity: 3,568 megawatts (MW).3
families. The uncertainty of the PTC alone resulted in the
• Number of Wind Turbines: 2,195 turbines.4
loss of over 5,000 with cancelled projects nationwide
• Wind Projects Online: 46 wind projects.5
last year.
• Wind Capacity Added in 2012: 823.3 MW.6
Failure to extend the PTC would threaten the economic
and environmental benefits of wind power in Illinois. The
• State Rank: Illinois added the 5th in the U.S. most new
capacity during 2012.7
state of Illinois ranks 4th, in the U.S., for number of utility-
• Wind Capacity Added in 2011: 692.5.8
scale wind turbines and has over 550 manufacturing
facilities producing products for the wind industry.1 Illinois
Current Wind Generation
• Percentage of Illinois’ electricity provided by wind in 2012:
3.9 percent.9
has attracted investment from major wind industry players,
including tower manufacturer Trinity Structural Towers and
• Equivalent number of homes Illinois wind farms now
power: over 1,000,000 average Illinoisan homes.10
gearbox manufacturer wind energy, allowing many smaller
manufacturers to get involved in the wind energy supply
Wind Generation Potential
chain. Because Illinois is heavily dependent on coal 41%
• According to data from the National Renewable Energy
Laboratory, Illinois’ onshore wind potential at 80 meters hub
height is 249,882 MW. State Rank: Illinois has the 15th best
wind resource in the U.S.11
and nuclear energy 49% as a source of energy, there needs
to be a push toward sustainable energy like wind.2
• This means that wind power is capable of meeting more
than 5.2 times the state’s current electricity needs.12
CONGRESS SHOULD DEFEND AMERICAN JOBS, NOT
THE INTERESTS OF BIG POLLUTERS.
Congress should protect American jobs and public health
Jobs & Economic Benefits
• Total direct and indirect jobs support in 2012: 6,0017000.13
by supporting the PTC and helping the country transition
away from dirty fossils, rather than continuing to subsidize
big polluters like the coal and oil industries. Congress
• State Rank: Illinois ranks 4th in the U.S. for number of windrelated jobs.14
should vote to renew the PTC with a long-term extension
• Capital investment: over $7.2 billion dollars.15
immediately.
Join us in supporting
American jobs in the wind industry
by telling your Members of Congress
to renew the ptc now!
• Annual land lease payments: over $10,975,000.16
• Number of manufacturing facilities in Illinois: 36 facilities.17
Environmental Benefits of Wind Power
• The water consumption savings from wind projects in
Illinois total more than 2 billion gallons of water per year.18
• The wind power installed in Illinois will avoid 5,550,000
metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, the
equivalent of taking 980,000 cars off the road.19
To learn more, and to find out how
you can get involved, visit:
www.sierraclub.org/windworks
endnotes
1 American Wind Energy Association
http://awea.rd.net/Resources/state.aspx?ItemNumber=5179
10 ibid
2 ibid
12 ibid
3 ibid
4 ibid
5 ibid
6 ibid
7 ibid
8 ibid
9 ibid
sierraclub.org/windworks
facebook.com/SierraClub
twitter.com/SierraClub
11 ibid
13 ibid
14 ibid
15 ibid
16 ibid
17 ibid
18 ibid
19 ibid