WASHINGTON , DC, US:
Allowing the U.S. tax credit for wind and solar PV to expire could result
in the loss of US$19 billion of investment and 116,000 cases of lost
employment opportunity.
The loss could occur in just one year if the tax credits are not renewed by
Congress, according to a study conducted by Navigant Consulting for the
American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries
Association. California and Texas would feel the largest employment impact.
Of the jobs at risk, 76,000 jobs would be in the wind industry and 40,000 in
the solar sector. Other states that could lose at least 1,000 jobs reach
include Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Minnesota, Washington, Iowa, North
Dakota, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
"This study confirms the huge economic stimulative impact of extending the
tax credits for renewable energy," explains Gregory Wetstone of AWEA. "At
risk are many thousands of construction jobs, operations and maintenance
jobs, and a major shot in the arm for the ailing U.S. manufacturing sector."
"Shuttered facilities that once provided steel, railcars, trucks, submarines
and household appliances are now being converted to manufacture renewable
energy components," he adds. "Today, however, investors are holding back
because of Congress' delay in extending renewable energy tax credits,
undermining one of the brightest and fasting growing areas of the American
economy."
"Solar energy is an economic engine that creates high-quality jobs and
attracts commercial investment," explains Rhone Resch of the SEIA. "If the
investment tax credit is not renewed in early 2008, it will disrupt this
high-growth sector, impact tens of thousands of U.S. jobs, and undermine
advances in clean energy production."
The Navigant study was released as the U.S. Department of Labor said there
is an economy-wide job loss for the first time since 2003, with 17,000
firings in January.
The strong growth in the renewable energy industries helped to offset some
of this loss by creating thousands of jobs, particularly where they are
needed most, in construction and manufacturing, the groups argue. In 2007
alone, the installation of wind turbines in the U.S. employed 8,000 people
in construction, and 14 new manufacturing facilities have been opened or
announced across the country to make turbines and components.
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