Trump May Not Like The Wind Industry, But It Now Employs More Than 102,000 Americans

Although President Donald Trump has spoken against wind power, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says the fastest-growing occupation in America are wind turbine service technician jobs.

U.S. wind power added jobs over nine times faster than the overall economy, the 2016 U.S. Wind Industry Annual Market Report released by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) shows. Last year, there were more than 102,000 wind power-related jobs -- a record.

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Wind turbine technicians earn an average of $52,000 a year, or about $25 an hour. The job, which requires some college but no degree, is estimated to more than double its number of positions in the decade ending in 2024. The wind technician position is growing faster than physical therapy assistants, home health aides, nurse practitioners and financial advisers, the BLS reported. However, the wind industry is quite small, adding about 5,000 jobs in the next few years.

Nonetheless, the data show America’s wind industry is expanding.

The U.S. industry invested more than $14 billion in new operations in 2016, installing more than 8,000 megawatts of new wind power for a second consecutive year, the AWEA reported. At the start of the year, the U.S. had a wind capacity of more than 82,000 megawatts, enough to power up 24 million homes. Meanwhile, major companies like General Motors, 3M and Target are buying large amounts of wind power through long-term contracts.

“Bigger, better technology enables new wind turbines to generate 50 percent more electricity than those built in 2009, and at 66 percent lower cost,” Tom Kiernan, CEO of AWEA, said in a statement. “With stable policy in place, we’re on the path to reliably supply 10 percent of U.S. electricity by 2020.”

Expanding wind energy will do well for the U.S. economy, the report added. In the next few years, the wind industry will account for 248,000 jobs, and between now and 2020, wind power will create $85 billion in economic activity.

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Trump voiced his dissatisfaction with the wind industry before becoming president.

“It's Friday. How many bald eagles did wind turbines kill today? They are an environmental & aesthetic disaster,” he tweeted in 2012.

He reiterated his thoughts about wind power again shortly after he was elected in November 2016.

“The windmills kill birds and the windmills need massive subsidies. In other words, we’re subsidizing windmills all over this country,” he said in an interview with the New York Times. “I mean, for the most part, they don’t work. I don’t think they work at all without subsidy, and that bothers me, and they kill all the birds.”

Ironically, about 84 percent of wind capacity installed over the past few years were built in states that voted for Trump.

Meanwhile, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said he was “delighted” with the recent AWEA report.

“Wind power is a critical component of an all-of-the-above energy approach focused on reducing consumer costs, furthering advances in renewable technologies, and moving our country closer to total energy independence,” Emmer said in a statement. “I will continue to support policies that further a comprehensive approach to improve our country’s energy outlook and ensure that American wind production remains a key component of that strategy.”

The full report can be found here.