Wind turbine factory going out of business, jobs instead going to China

A large factory manufacturing wind turbine blades in Aberdeen South Dakota is going out of business, and with it 400 jobs.
The company sites changing market conditions, foreign competition, and proposed revisions to tax policies as reasons why they could no longer remain in business.
Many politicians promised that wind energy would translate into American jobs, but that is not looking like it is the case. Despite increasing investment in wind energy in the US, it appears most of those manufacturing jobs are going to China.

South Dakota rocked again as a wind turbine plant shuts its doors (msn.com)

A question: Was this any great surprise?

Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune said that it is troubling that at a time when wind energy is seeing record investment that this growth is not translating to American jobs. It's especially hard for those working these good-paying jobs in Aberdeen to face uncertainty yet again. Thune criticized Biden's statement from his address to Congress — "There’s no reason, Biden said, "the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing." But Beijing is getting all the business. Bloomberg New Energy Finance recent ranking of global wind turbine manufacturers last year showed that 7 of the top 10 wind turbine manufacturers are Chinese companies.

John F. Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, had said only months ago that those losing fossil fuel jobs in coal and hydraulic fracturing will find they have a better choice in jobs in either the solar industry or as wind turbine technicians.

But now, a wind blade manufacturing plant located in Aberdeen, South Dakota has announced it is shutting its doors permanently in less than two months. The disappearance of Molded Fiber Glass will displace over three hundred workers and their families. It marks another major loss of energy jobs in the state, this coming after President Joe Biden's halting of the Keystone Pipeline. ​

 

I have said this for a long time, green energy will not be made in America.... it will be treated like everything else, it will be made where it is cheapest to make

the only way to change this is for the government to put speed limits on greedy corporations

 

"Keystone Pipeline"

isn't that to import oil from Canada? Another country?

doesn't that kill jobs in the trucking industry?

 

"John F. Kerry, the special presidential envoy for climate, had said only months ago that those losing fossil fuel jobs in coal and hydraulic fracturing will find they have a better choice in jobs in either the solar industry or as wind turbine technicians."

this is true, maintaining the equipment in the USA, those jobs will stay in the USA

but any IT work will most likely be done by India

 

Trumps four years of “Let’s support coal not renewables” probably did not help

 

Here's a broader economic perspective.
New Paper From Richard Tol: The Economic Impact of Weather and Climate
Charles Rotter
I propose a new conceptual framework to disentangle the impacts of weather and climate on economic activity and growth: A stochastic frontier model with climate in the production frontier and…

 

I can find endless articles like these ones:

Feb 17, 2021 - Wind power manufacturer closing Colorado plant, laying off hundreds in consolidation
U.S. wind power orders have slowed, and the Danish turbine maker is shrinking its North American manufacturing presence.
The Danish company, which made Colorado's Front Range wind manufacturing hub for North America, plans to lay off 450 from its wind turbine manufacturing across its three plants in northern Colorado and its steel tower plant in Pueblo.
The layoffs are the second wave of job cuts the Vestas-American Wind Technology division has announced in four months.

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/...layoffs-wind-turbine-plant-consolidation.html


June 5, 2021 - Wind energy company closing Lehigh Valley manufacturing plant, shifting work to Mexico
A maker of components for wind turbine blades is closing its manufacturing plant in the Lehigh Valley and shifting the work to Mexico, putting 67 people out of work, according to a notice filed with the state, an internal memo and multiple sources familiar with the company’s thinking.
"During the past year, we have experienced challenging market conditions as the near-term market in North America has been influenced by consolidation, leading to a reduction of the blade manufacturing footprint in North America as well as reduced production at the continuing locations," read a May 25 memo to the company’s employees and vendors that was reviewed by The Morning Call.
"Furthermore, we see a market that demands a more comprehensive offering, from a different footprint, requiring a very close collaboration between kitting and materials. In combination with the current global market situation, we see a need to consolidate our footprint and have made the decision to relocate our core kit manufacturing in Allentown to Matamoros."
https://www.mcall.com/business/mc-b...0210604-ruapfn5e6rfvtlc6h6nk7xvbmy-story.html

Sounds like just verbose language for saying that to be able to compete they are having to relocate to Mexico where labor costs are much cheaper. They probably don't want to say that because it would trigger outrage in that part of Pennsylvania.