Wind-energy industry lost factory jobs despite stimulus

Federal stimulus money rescued the U.S. wind-power industry from what could have been a disastrous 2009, but it still lost sought-after manufacturing jobs, a trade group reported Tuesday.

Nationwide, the wind-power industry employs about 85,000 people

Early last year, the association had expected wind-power development to drop 50% in year-end levels compared with 2008, given the dearth of financing for wind-farm projects.

But 2009 federal stimulus dollars, about $2.2 billion for dozens of wind projects and wind turbine-component manufacturers, softened the recession’s impact. “The stimulus was a real spur to development,” she says. “We saved half an industry.”

USA Today