Washington's Timelines Don't Match Industry's

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The wind industry descended on Washington, D.C. Tuesday with its message to Congress to pass a national renewable energy standard (RES). Not much news there, as that's a policy goal of long-standing, and the news conference coincided with an American Wind Energy Association board meeting and was probably planned weeks ago.

But there was a little more urgency this time, coming on the heels of the calls by four U.S. senators [3] to halt economic stimulus payments to foreign-based equipment makers and project developers. The senators’ theory is that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) payments are employing foreign workers at the expense of American industry, though the evidence is sketchy, at best.

One of the more interesting points was made by John Grabner, executive director, Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Company, Inc. The Cleveland-based company has retooled to make steel bolts used in construction of wind turbines for many of the wind turbine manufacturers active in the U.S.

He said that the company has spent two years qualifying all of its product line to the demands of the turbine makers. With that kind of timeline, it’s pretty hard to enforce the “buy American” accusations that the senators took against the wind manufacturers last week. If component makers can spend up to two years qualifying for the manufacturing specs of turbine makers, how are other parts of the supply chain supposed to be immediately ready to provide American components to turbines in time for the Recovery Act deadlines in place for less than a year from now?

The wind industry believes the RES is the policy tool that will serve as the best way to save and create U.S. jobs.
"Manufacturers are chomping at the bit to come to the U.S. and it would be a tragedy if this investment were to stop," said Donald Furman, senior vice president, Iberdrola Renewables, based in Portland, Oregon, and president of the board of the American Wind Energy Association. "The RES is the missing link."

But as Grabner showed, the time needed to qualify products and Washington time doesn’t necessarily align.

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