Wind-industry lobby, Steelworkers announce alliance to encourage U.S. turbine production

The American Wind Energy Association has a powerful new ally in its quest to increase U.S. wind production: the United Steelworkers Union, whose members make much of the industry's equipment and want to make more. The two groups announced a partnership Thursday "to expand U.S. wind power production and related domestic manufacturing, with programs to build up the domestic supply chain for the growing industry," Jenny Mandel of Environment & Energy Daily reports.

"We jointly recognize that the deployment of wind energy facilities are vital to this nation's energy security, but that deployment must be linked, to the maximum extent practicable, with the development and utilization of domestically produced materials, original-equipment manufacturers and component parts," the groups said in a joint statement outlining the partnership. As recently as March AWEA had fought legislation that would have punished companies for looking abroad for turbine equipment.

"That collaboration will include "results-oriented targets" for the growth of existing and new domestic suppliers, the establishment of an inventory of domestic suppliers, identification of supply chain gaps to be filled and jointly developed training programs to ensure that workers have the skills needed for wind-related manufacturing," Mandel writes. Denise Bode, the CEO of AWEA, described the steelworkers as "the wind union," saying, "we're well-positioned to recapture leadership in a brand-new manufacturing sector: wind." (Read more)