American Wind Energy Association endorses Michigan 25 by 25 ballot proposition
The American Wind Energy Association issued the following news release, only a portion of which is published here.
The American Wind Energy Association today announced its endorsement of the Michigan Energy Michigan Jobs ballot proposal, which will increase Michigan’s renewable energy standard to 25 percent by 2025 if approved by voters on Nov. 6.
AWEA is the national trade association of America’s wind industry, representing 2,000 member companies including global leaders in wind power and energy development, wind turbine manufacturing, component and service suppliers. Its membership list includes 70 businesses in Michigan.
“A wind turbine has more than 8,000 parts that can be built in Michigan,” said Rob Gramlich, AWEA’s senior vice president for public policy and a Michigan native. “More than 30 states across the nation have renewable energy standards similar to Michigan’s ballot proposal. They are creating jobs in their local communities as well as clean, homegrown power. If these states can do it, Michigan can, too.”
According to a recent report by Michigan State University economists and academics, the 25 by 2025 proposal will create jobs and generate $10.3 billion of private investment in Michigan’s economy.
It will spark development of more wind energy in Michigan, which as of July 1, 2012 had 487 megawatts of wind-powered electrical generating capacity online, with enough wind farms currently under construction to double that by the end of the year.
Passage of the ballot proposal is expected to drive development of another 4,500 megawatts of wind power in Michigan, a state with one of the top 20 wind resource potentials in the country.
It will also continue the growth of wind factory jobs in Michigan, which has fast become a manufacturing powerhouse for the industry. At least 31 businesses produced wind components in Michigan at the start of 2012 and six more had been announced. For example, wind turbines are manufactured in Saginaw, and wind towers are now being made on a former brownfield site in Monroe.
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