The US wind power industry supported 88,000 jobs at the start of 2016, a 20% increase over the last 12 months, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
The AWEA said in its US Wind Energy Annual Market Report, Year Ending 2015 that the job growth coincided with wind ranked number one as the country’s leading source of new generating capacity.
AWEA said the job growth in 2015 is primarily attributable to more wind project development and construction, requiring more than 38,000 employees.
The manufacturing sector supports over 21,000 jobs across 43 states, up over 10% in a year.
A further 8800 jobs are held by wind turbine technicians, which AWEA said is the fastest growing profession in the US according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
There are over 24,000 wind energy employees in Texas, with Oklahoma in second place with more than 7000 jobs, Iowa and Colorado are next with over 6000 jobs, and Kansas fifth with over 5,000 wind workers.
The report found that US wind energy has attracted $128bn in investment over the last 10 years, with $32bn in Texas alone.
More than 8.5GW of new capacity was installed last year across 20 states, the third highest ever in one year and a 77% increase on 2014.
A further 9.4GW was under construction at the start of 2016.
Wind represented 41% of all new capacity coming online last year ahead of solar (28.5%) and natural gas (28.1%).
AWEA chief executive officer Tom Kiernan said: “We’re helping young people in rural America find a job close to home.
“Others are getting a fresh chance to rebuild their careers by landing a job in the booming clean energy sector.
“With long-term, stable policy in place, and a broader range of customers now buying low-cost wind-generated electricity, our workforce can grow to 380,000 well-paying jobs by 2030.”
Image: Panhandle 2 wind farm in Texas (Pattern)
