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Friday, March 12, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
Harry Reid
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Southern Nevada, long in the hunt for a new source of jobs and for companies that can boost the state’s stature in the renewable energy industry, can claim both with Thursday’s announcement that an international manufacturer of wind turbines plans to establish its first American plant here.
The 320,000-square-foot facility is expected to be ready for operation by the end of 2011, creating more than 1,000 permanent jobs and adding leverage to Nevada’s argument that the state can play host to renewable energy companies as competition for them escalates.
This project comes as something of a surprise, however, because the manufacturing plant will build and assemble components for wind turbines that will be shipped out of state to customers in North and South America where wind farms are a growing fixture on the landscape.
Most of Nevada’s efforts to develop an alternative energy industry have focused on solar energy.
“It’s alternative energy, which is great, but that it’s manufacturing makes it double great,” said Somer Hollingsworth, president of the Nevada Development Authority. “They hire more people longer term and the wages are generally high and the benefits tend to be better. So we’re very excited about it.”
Thursday’s news was announced by an international consortium composed of the private equity company U.S. Renewable Energy Group, Chinese manufacturer A-Power Energy Generation Systems and Southern Nevada developer American Nevada Company. (American Nevada is owned by The Greenspun Corporation, which also owns the Las Vegas Sun.)
Consortium members lauded Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his role in landing the project in Nevada.
When Reid learned of plans by the investor and A-Power to build a wind turbine manufacturing plant in the United States, “he told us that Nevada was poised to be at the epicenter of America’s commitment to renewable energy technology,” said Ed Cunningham, managing partner of U.S. Renewable Energy Group. “This multimillion-dollar investment in Nevada will further advance the Senate majority leader’s clean energy initiatives while allowing out-of-work Nevadans to re-enter the workforce in high-paying, stable, green jobs.”
Jinxiang Lu, CEO and chairman of A-Power, said the decision to locate the assembly plant in Nevada to serve North and South America was based on Reid’s “vision for the development of clean energy industries in his home state, Nevada’s position relative to the major wind corridors, and the strength and sophistication of Nevada’s skilled workforce.”
Wind energy is one of the most popular renewable energy resources in the U.S. because it is less expensive and less financially risky than solar energy, and less site-specific than geothermal energy and hydro power.
The Energy Department estimated, even before the Obama administration’s green energy platform was laid out, that by 2030, 20 percent of America’s electricity will come from wind farms.
A-Power has a contract to build turbines for a large wind farm in Texas that had been criticized for its apparent plans to use machines manufactured outside the country. By manufacturing and assembling its product in Nevada, the company is more palatable to publicity-sensitive American wind developers, wind energy experts say.
“We are committed to clean energy development and this partnership, which will allow us to expand our presence in the American renewable energy sector and create over a thousand jobs in Nevada,” said A-Power Director John Lin. “A-Power highly values the opportunities in renewable energy in America.”
China is the world leader in manufacturing for all types of renewable energy components.
Until the past five years, the American wind energy manufacturing industry was comparatively tiny and focused on assembly or single components, said Elizabeth Salerno of the American Wind Energy Association.
Nevada will join Colorado as among the first states in the West to host utility-scale wind turbine manufacturing facilities. There are nine major wind turbine manufacturing plants in the United States, most of them in Iowa. Many of the other large manufacturing plants planned in the U.S. will be built in the Southeast, said Christine Real de Azua, spokeswoman for the wind energy trade organization.
“Where a manufacturer locates has a lot to do with how competitive the state is,” Azua said.
Las Vegas is far from the expected wind power boom states like Wyoming and Texas, and its tax incentives mirror those of many other states.
But Reid played the role of recruiter, drawing on his work with the industry. He was recently named National Solar Energy Champion of the year by the Solar Energy Industries Association and has introduced important renewable energy legislation.
Reid’s courting of U.S. Renewable Energy Group and A-Power was key to the state getting this facility, several parties close to the decision said.
“This development is being sited here because of Harry Reid’s commitment to Nevada and to green energy,” said Bruce Deifik, president of The Greenspun Corporation. “Developing the renewable energy industry in Nevada is a dream of his, and he’s worked hard to make this first step toward realizing that dream.”
American Nevada is looking to purchase up to 1,000 acres of land to develop a clean energy campus large enough to allow expansion of its partners’ facility as well as to accommodate similar projects, Deifik said.
The company is finalizing site criteria and is looking at private and Bureau of Land Management land on the valley floor for the plant, American Nevada Senior Vice President Dan Naef said.
“We’ve been around this town for a long time,” Naef said. “We know what’s available, it’s just a matter of determining what best meets our needs.”
Nevada has long been overlooked by manufacturers in favor of states such as New Mexico and Oregon with established high-tech manufacturing industries.
With this plant’s success, however, other developers’ doubts about workforce, permitting and transportation are more easily overcome, experts say.
“The clean energy industry is the future of Nevada,” Reid said. “I urged A-Power to choose our state as the site for the plant because I believe Nevada can be a world leader in clean energy. This industry will help us create jobs immediately, while diversifying our state’s economy for the long term.”
It sounded good until the part about wanting 'up to 1.000 acres' of valley land [almost 2 square miles].
Sounds like another land grab designed to assure a profit reguardless of the success of the planned project.
p.s ...If they really care about their future employees the plan will be air conditioned!
Please use e-verify when hiring for the construction phase and the manufacturing phase, otherwise Harry, your efforts won't be worth anything.
Who are they buying their land from,"I bought a piece of land and sold a piece of land " Harry?
I have to admit that if Harry played any positive role in this, he's not as worthless as I'd believed. A major manufacturing facility, with an associated "clean energy campus", is exactly what Clark County needs. Now would be a good time for CCSD, CSN, & UNLV to focus some of their admittedlly limited resources on on the educational side of the equation -- insuring that we have qualified people available or in the pipeline to support what could be an economic engine for the area.
But we also need to insure that as many jobs as possible go to Nevadans, so yes, e-Verify needs to be used for all aspects of the development. (Though everyone needs to understand that A-Power will undoubtedly bring in some foreign or out-of-state managers & technical specialists initially.)
Let's get it done and going!
I would seriosly doubt they will purchase 1000 acres. But if they really wanted to all they would have to do is go north of the las vegas beltway. Plenty of vacant commercial property out in the apex area.
Too bad the same Greedy OLD Party negative Right-wing NUTs keep posting here (they need to go to Fox NOISE where they all belong bunched together). Ha, ha. I challenge the RepubliCONs to do anything positive for the average American! (If they truly had any new ideas, why didn't they apply them over the past decade???)
Read about more of Senator Reid's accomplishments below
http://www.harryreid.com/content/pages/a...
For what it is worth, the participants included in the announcement that they would not have done this if not for Senator Reid's help. As for critics, look, I am liberal, but I don't think that everything a conservative does is simply because s/he will get something out of it. Reid is a senator from Nevada who is doing his job--in my opinion, incredibly well. If we had more programs like this, our economy might not be in the toilet.
Despite the fact that this is essentially a press release from a newspaper extolling its owners, this is an excellent development for the job market and the diversification of energy sources here in Las Vegas and Nevada. I applaud Senator Reid.
Bipartisanship was the catalyst in recent labor victory indeed there is a growing trend by "centrist" members in the political arena. The fact that Mr.Reid was able to harness and unify members traditionally at odds to pass legislation in favor of the state of Nevada and her people along with the recent tourism bill speaks where word fail. I have long been a champion of sustainable green practices and diversification. Here is an interesting link that cast no stones.
http://www.b4esummit.com/?page_id=13
Did anyone ever consider that American Nevada Realty probably already owns the land in question?
This scam sounds like a caper set up by the Brookings-West, Greenspun, Reid nexus. Note that the "mouse-power" windmills are built by a branch of the Chinese firm A-Power Energy Generation Systems and then exported to foreign countries.
So now we have a Communist Chinese manufacturing firm being set up in Nevada under the auspices of the Brookings-West, Greenspun, Reid nexus. Will the taxpayers underwrite this caper?
Aren't 1,000 jobs a drop in the bucket?
Isn't this merely political grandstanding for Reid's re-election?
How good is that?
has anyone ever witnessed the shear noise from these farms? terrible
@markp: Reread the story. This is a turbine manufacturing plant, not a wind farm. All of our windmills are in eastern Nevada, far from population centers. Senator Reid said he would fight for clean energy, high-paying jobs in Nevada and he delivered on that promise. The 1000 jobs are just the beginning. Impressed by our skilled work force, other manufacturers will follow. The campus will expand and attract other similar businesses. None of the 10 Republicans, three non-partisans and one Tea Partier running against Reid have brought so many jobs to Nevada, nor could they as a back bench junior member of Congress. In fact, Sue Lowden and her husband's failed businesses laid off hundreds of people.
Great job Harry in getting the factory to locate here. They should be the kind of good paying jobs that are needed!
Isn't this what we PAY him to do? Isn't this his JOB?
Nice job, blahblahblah. ONLY 131,000 jobs left to fill now....
OMG!
This is AWFUL news for the NutJob crowd!
First, Harry brought home some bacon.
Second, it involves that dreaded "GREEN JOB" nonsense they love to ridicule as folly.
Dang, a double whammy!
Just wondering - How many jobs lost as Harry & Barry close Yucca Mountain?