News
Pennsylvania's ridges make wind energy a rising presence in the state's energy profile. And demand for wind turbines is creating new jobs, often housed in the old steel complexes.
[This is an EXCERPT: read the whole article here. -Ed.]
By Sandy Bauers
"Gamesa Technology Corp. Inc., part of a Spanish company that's one of the world's largest turbine makers, took over part of the [former steelworks] property - now the Keystone Industrial Port Complex - in 2006 and is a key player in its transformation from rust to green."
"Across the state, wind has become the dominant renewable-energy fuel."
"Nationwide, wind provides just 1.2 percent of electricity needs, but that's changing."
"Last year, with $9 billion worth of new projects, U.S. wind power capacity increased 46 percent. Wind accounted for about a third of all new electric generation."
"The $34 million Gamesa plant in Bucks County - another is in Western Pennsylvania - is running 24 hours a day, six days a week."
"Its 600 employees, many former steelworkers still represented by their old union, staff three shifts."
"[Gamesa USA's chief executive officer Julius] Steiner wants to build supply-chain clusters around the plant. 'If that happens, you're talking about a lot of jobs.'"
Photo credit: Kathy Mackey 
