Dear Senator Shumer:::

Some senators run their mouths alot and some Senators like Harry Reid actually produce jobs for America. APWR is going to build a 320,000 square foot plant employing 1000 USA Workers in Nevada. While some senators try and KILL the USA WIND Business, other senators are busy providing jobs to their states. Maybe Senator Shumer, you should try providing jobs instead of running your mouth alot about an American University report that is so poorly written, its almost comical. Senator Shumer, this is your day to SEE how a US SENATOR like Harry Reid DELIVERS JOBS to Nevada.

APWR obviously has the TEXAS WIND FARM deal wrapped up and financed if they are going to build the USA Wind Turbine Plant. I am NOT the sharpest blogger in WIND but i would guess I have the largest position in APWR stock of any blogger in the world. And, today, APWR rockets north. ONE BILLION revenue from wind power alone coming to APWR in 2011 so all of you doubters can keep on doubting and I , like APWR will keep on building the reader base and investor base into the “”"”NEXT FIRST SOLAR”"”‘ of China who is building in USA.

Press Release Source: A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. On Thursday March 11, 2010, 7:00 am
WASHINGTON, March 11 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ — The U.S. Renewable Energy Group (US-REG), A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. (Nasdaq:APWR – News), and American Nevada Group (“ANC”) today announced the development and construction of a new production and assembly plant in Nevada that will supply highly advanced wind energy turbines to renewable energy projects throughout North and South America. The state-of-the-art facility will be approximately 320,000 square feet with annual production capacity of 1,100 megawatts of wind energy turbines annually, enough to power 330,000 homes. The facility is expected to employ approximately 1,000 Nevada workers and create even more jobs during the construction process. ANC will identify potential sites for the facility and will develop the facility for the group.

United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is a leader in developing America’s renewable energy sector and his commitment to the sector and to promoting investment in Nevada was instrumental to the decision to locate the new facility there. The wind turbine production and assembly plant will create over 1,000 high paying long-term jobs in Nevada and provide a major financial boost to the local and surrounding economies. The affordable real estate in Nevada and the proven track record of Nevada’s skilled workforce made Nevada the ideal location for the assembly and production plant. In addition to production and assembly at the new plant, most of the key wind turbine components will be made by domestic U.S. manufacturers. When A-Power selects a suitable site, it intends to arrange the financing of the costs of site acquisition and the construction and operation of the assembly facility from its own funds.

U dont see Senator Shumer bashing the Spanish wind firm……..wonder why ???

High wind: Up to 20% of state energy from wind; Acciona pleased
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · March 10, 2010

A spokesperson for Acciona Windpower called it a “tremendous accomplishment” that, according to a recent report, Iowa now produces 17 to 20 percent of its electricity from wind energy.

On March 3, the Iowa Policy Project in Iowa City released a report called “Think Wind Power, Think ‘Iowa’” that shows Iowa reaching the same benchmark Denmark achieved a few years earlier.

“This speaks to Iowa’s undaunted efforts to bring not only wind energy generation to Iowa, but also the manufacturing and supply chain that supports it,” Acciona spokesman Eric Schneider told the West Branch Times.

IPP Executive Director David Osterberg, who co-authored the report, said Sen. Chuck Grassley’s 1992 wind energy production tax credit is a large part of the reason the capacity for installed wind turbines grew from 5 megawatts in 1998 to 3,670 MW in 2009.

“He authored that bill and did a really good job of it,” Osterberg, who ran as a Democrat against Grassley in 1998, said. “Having that tax credit has really helped.”

Schneider and Osterberg also credited the stimulus funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which, through the Investment Tax Credit, offered grants based on project costs.

“Every wind developer takes advantage of available federal tax credits meant to advance the United States’ goals of generating more electricity from renewable sources,” Schneider said. “Acciona is no exception.”

Grassley issued a statement in response to the IPP report, saying Iowa “is poised for even greater results in the future.”

“This renewable energy source has not only helped power Iowa, but at the same time has created green jobs for Iowans.” Grassley stated. “The wind energy tax credit that I authored has been a tremendous impetus for the state to harness the power of wind for both clean energy and good paying jobs.”

Acciona produces wind turbines at its West Branch assembly plant, and while it has projects in development in Iowa, all of the turbines being produced now are going toward “nearer-term projects,” Schneider said.

The IPP report said that wind energy is difficult to track once it is fed into the electric grid, so it is possible that not all wind energy produced in Iowa is used here. However, the amount of electricity would be enough to power 75 percent of Iowa homes, some 940,000 residences.

The report notes that Iowa’s electricity prices have remained below the U.S. average, though Osterberg said this does not definitively show that wind energy is the reason.

Coal plants still produce cheaper electricity, he said, at about 1 1/2 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to 3 1/2 to 4 cents for wind. However, Osterberg said that new standards for coal plants, as well as carbon emissions causing climate change and respiratory disease, directly and indirectly add about 6 to 9 cents to coal’s cost.

The IPP report notes that since wind turbines only produce electricity when the wind is blowing, Iowa wind turbines are generating only about a third of their potential.

Dear Senator Shumer and American University::

Senator Shumer, you seem like you have your heart in the right place, I just cannot understand HOW you can continue to ignore the FACTS of the poorly written article by American University reporting that 79% of the money for stimulus to wind power goes overseas?????? Lets use the four VESTAS Wind Turbine plants here in Colorado. Yes, Vestas is a foreign company operating four large wind turbine facilities here in Colorado employing about 3000 USA workers in four cities here in Colorado. IF Vestas receives any stimulus money for building a wind farm in the USA, the jobs are all USA and the folks cashing their checks at Safeway to buy their groceries are all employees of a ”’foreign”’ company so the lousy , patheticcally written American University would falsely place 100% of the money going overseas. Whats wrong with this report by American University ??

Which part of this FACT do you , Senator Shumer and American University, quite not comprehend ??? And American University , you should be ashamed of your interns running wild making all kind of claims that are just totallly false and poorly written and if your only mission for this poorly researched report was to make noise and create “”NOISE”" among American readers of this report, well, as George Bush would say “”"”MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”"”!

I could cite numerous foreign companies with numerous wind turbine facilities that are scatterred across the USA employing American workers building wind turbines but seems American University just wants to make noise instead of reporting facts. And Senator Shumer, have you apologized to your other Senators you drug into this poorly written article trying to change something that does not need to be changed?? And YES American University, the 79% money going to overseas is correct but you seem to forget the facts that most of these foreign companies have USA workers an USA facilities . But, why let FACTS get in the way of a China xenophobic poorly written factually false article ????

And, given the China wind farm that most want to scream bloody murder about, nobody above has reported the ”’FACTS” that 70% of the jobs for this huge green wind farm FINANCED by the chinese would be USA jobs and USA components built in USA on American soil by American workers. So, lets report some facts and get away from the non global world we live in where we do NOT require Toyota to build a 100% usa car to receive stimulus money ???????

A Job is a JOB is a JOB………..and trying to torpedo 85,000 USA Wind power workers for a pathetically written article from American University is almost criminal in my book.

PS Sorry for my attitude but I am SICK and TIRED of reading garbage being used to try and stir Joe SixPack to action thinking he is creating American Wind Jobs when in fact, Joe Shumer Sixpack is going to torpedo the infant USA Wind business at birth before it truly gets going cause if Vestas and Gamesa and Iberdrola and Siemens do NOT get the stimulus money they are supposed to get, you can kiss your Windy Jobs business good bye from USA soils. Those foreign companies will close their plants so fast it will make your head spin. And I could NOT blame them one bit!

March 9, 2010
Wind Industry Blitzes Hill on Schumer Bill, Renewable Mandate By ANNE C. MULKERN of Greenwire

The wind industry will hit Congress this week in a lobbying blitz aimed at securing a national requirement that utilities generate some power from renewable sources and stopping a Senate measure that would prohibit federal grants from going to companies that manufacture outside the United States.

About 120 executives and others from companies tied to wind power will meet with lawmakers and their aides. The group is in town for its annual industry meeting but also sees the need to advocate for policies it sees as vital.

“With the right policies in place, I think we are very well positioned to get something done and get it done quickly,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association. “If Congress acts with this policy in place, you’ll see explosive growth.”

The lobbying effort comes as lawmakers debate policies the wind industry says would slow manufacturing and kill jobs. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has introduced legislation that would restrict grants to companies that rely on materials manufactured in the United States and create the bulk of jobs domestically (Greenwire, March 4). That bill is a reaction to a study by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University that found that 79 percent of the $2 billion in renewable energy grants doled out from the stimulus went to foreign companies, as well as a controversial proposal by a U.S.-China joint venture to apply for $450 million in funding from the stimulus.

The proposed joint venture would build a 648-megawatt wind farm in West Texas, generating enough power to light 135,000 homes. The joint venture is made up of China’s Shenyang Power Group, Texas-based Cielo Wind Power and the U.S. Renewable Energy Group.

The Department of Energy’s handling of stimulus spending has faced criticism from other lawmakers in addition to Schumer’s bill.

Wind executives who met with reporters this morning said the talk of that legislation alone is slowing the momentum of wind manufacturing, which is planned years in advance. The executives insisted they are creating jobs in the United States but that they also need policies in place that would give the industry confidence about future prospects. The industry wants a national mandate that utilities generate a certain amount of power from renewable sources, called a renewable electricity standard.

“The renewable electricity standard has three main points to it. Job, jobs and jobs,” said John Grabner, executive director of Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co., a Ohio company that manufactures bolts and screws used in wind facilities. If there is an order from a turbine manufacturer, he said, his company places an order with a steel manufacturer. That creates jobs in the steel industry, he said, adding that his company then adds jobs.

the diversified future giant of Green China has spoken and even though this order is small in scope, where there is smoke, there is fire!

SHENYANG, China, March 9 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ — A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. (Nasdaq:APWR – News), a leading provider of distributed power generation (“DG”) systems in China and a fast-growing manufacturer of wind turbines, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, EVATECH Co., Ltd. (“EVATECH”) of Kyoto, Japan, has signed a definitive contract with a Chinese leading renewable energy company to supply one set of photovoltaic solar machines.

The contract covers the design, manufacturing and installation of the photovoltaic solar machine. The total value of the contract is $1.7 million. A down payment has been received with shipment expected on May 31, 2010.

which part of 70% of the wind turbine parts does Senator Shumer not understand???? Is the math over this head or does the great senator from New York not yet figure out 70% of something is better than zero of NOTHING?????????

Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) launched a campaign last week to suspend the 48C program indefinitely, “until the law can be fixed.” Schumer cited reports from the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University that calculated 79 percent of $2.1 billion given out in clean-energy grants had gone to foreign companies.

Along with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), the senators introduced a bill that would put a “buy American” provision on all renewable energy projects getting government money.

“Our domestic clean-energy sector has the potential to emerge as a global leader and it is counterproductive to invest U.S. stimulus funds in Chinese companies rather than our own,” Schumer said.

Supporters of the program, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu, are not convinced. They said that while some jobs may end up overseas, the grants are creating thousands of U.S. jobs at a time when construction and manufacturing unemployment is in the double digits. A “buy American” requirement would mean stopping projects where two-thirds of the work is American and only a third is foreign and losing those American jobs.

“This proposal would torpedo one of the most successful job creation efforts of the Recovery Act, which has already preserved half of the 85,000 American jobs in the U.S. wind industry,” said Denise Bode, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). It “would cost 50,000 American workers their jobs.”

One high-profile target of Schumer’s campaign is a West Texas wind farm project that is being built by a U.S.-China coalition with over $400 million in 48C help.

Opponents of the plan said its parts are being made in China, and that 85 percent of the 2,800 jobs expected to flow from project will end up there.

The group, comprised of the U.S. Renewable Energy Group, Cielo Wind Power LP and China’s Shenyang Power Group, vehemently disputed that figure.

“A minimum of 70 percent of each wind turbine in the 600 MW project, including the massive towers and blades, will be wholly manufactured in the United States and made entirely of American steel,” said Cappy McGarr, managing partner at U.S. Renewable Energy Group.

McGarr said analyses have wrongfully assumed that jobs that do not qualify as either construction or operation of the wind farm would naturally go overseas. That is “incorrect,” McGarr said, though he did not divulge any figures.

Job creation aside, cutting off the incentives would be a death knell for the U.S renewables market, McGarr added.

Most large USA Wind Farms are built and financed by major foreign international companies like Gamesa, Vestas, Iberdrola, and REPower. Only GE is located in the United States and GE has production facilities being built in Europe and China so even though the USA company is building a wind farm in USA, the parts might still come from a foreign country like China .

Most large wind farms have the wind blades and the wind towers built in the USA cause the idea of shipping large, heavy products 1000’s of miles by ship makes no logistical economic sense. With a typical 200MW site in Texas, the Wind Blades would be made in Arkansas or Iowa or Texas and then moved by rail or truck to the wind site. Next , the steel towers which are very heavy and very big, would be made by either Trinity, Broadwind, or other USA sites and trucked or rail car shipments to the job site. The nacelle (the guts) of the wind turbine is the main component and just like transmissions or engines at USA auto plants, these nacelles can be manufactured and shipped from a foreign country but more than likely, the nacelles are manufactured on USA soil and shipped to the job site.

With the proposed USA /China Wind Farm being built in Texas, the Wind Blades and Wind Towers would be made on USA soil and using USA components and labor to assemble and manufacture. The Nacelles would be made in Shenyang China and shipped over by ship.

What is so hard for Shumer and American University to report the FACTS and the TRUTH instead of total factual manipulation and ”’FORGETTING”’ to report the story in truthful ways and accounts ???? Answer:: Shumer grandstanding for union votes this fall in November!

IF Shumer is successful in blocking stimulus money to foreign companies ((even though they have plants and manufacturing inside USA or use USA subcontractors providing jobs to Americans in the USA) , Senator Shumer will be successful in personally derailing all President Obama has worked for in green energy and green power production.

Personally, I dont think Senator Shumer is going to be successsful for one simple reason, he is NOT using the FACTS and the TRUTH and distortion and false reports like the American University report he is using for his basis of argument are simply NOT TRUE. The Truth always wins and the TRUTH will set you free when securing wind jobs in the USA>!

Vestas is best foreign example on USA soil building four wind turbine plants here in Colorado and providing jobs for around 3000 new green wind workers in the USA. At the end of the week, cashing their check at Safeway to buy groceries, the check says “”VESTAS”" but the jobs and the groceries are USA made and approved green wind energy. Gamesa, Endesa, Iberdrola, Suzlon, and the list goes on and on for new foreign manufacturing groups in the usa building Wind Farms and Wind Turbines. I just wish Senator Shumer would have done some simple due diligence and research before beleiving a bunch of ”interns’ at American University and making so much noise and exposing himself to look like an idiot pandering the union for votes this fall.

More on the self-defeating Schumer Buy American effort

The proposal by New York’s Sen. Schumer and a handful of others to shut off the flow of Treasury grants to new wind projects illustrates the self-defeating nature of current Congressional policy towards jobs and manufacturing. As the Energy Department’s spokesman said yesterday, “Other countries are not pressing the pause button on clean energy industries, and they will move quickly to capture America’s share of the global market while we sit on the sidelines.”

Consider the big picture: The U.S. economy has not yet fully emerged from recession. Unemployment is still hovering around 10 %. The Recovery Act has been pumping money into job creation initiatives, including new wind energy projects, in order to stimulate the economy and keep more people from losing their jobs. By AWEA’s estimates, approximately 40,000 American jobs were saved by the stimulus program due to projects that went went ahead because of the financing help provided by the Recovery Act.

The Schumer proposal would shut the program down, leading to lost jobs, because no wind developer could meet the strict requirements of the Schumer Buy American amendment–the United States simply does not have the manufacturing capacity yet to produce 100% of the turbine parts. Lost in the shuffle would be the good jobs that would go to Americans if Treasury continued to provide assistance to new U.S. wind projects: construction, engineering, transportation, and the manufacturing of those turbine parts–more than half–that are made in the United States.

Also lost would be the momentum the industry has developed in the last five years toward building a turbine manufacturing capability as investors see strong demand for wind energy and agree to finance new plants. As the Energy Department spokesman said, “The best way to stimulate our manufacturing base is to stimulate demand for wind turbines in America, since manufacturers tend to locate where the demand is. ”

Why would a group of intelligent Senators, in the name of “saving” American jobs, knowingly champion a job-losing scheme? You have to go back to last November, when a consortium of American and Chinese firms announced a vague plan to build a wind project in West Texas. In the course of the announcement, they noted that the turbines would be coming from China, and the Recovery Act funds would be used to finance it. The plan was attacked by some in Congress as “sending jobs to China.”

Fast forward to the present. If you listen to the Senators behind the Buy America proposal, the premise is that 1) the West Texas project is already completed and 2) the Treasury sent a special delivery bank draft to pay the Chinese workers producing the turbines. Of course, neither is true–the project has not moved forward–in fact, no one in the industry is holding their breath until this project is finished, because many more wind projects are proposed than ever come to fruition. But that fact has gotten lost, too.

Moral: never let the facts get in the way of a good story–and a bad policy.

Does Senator Shumer get his investment advice from the internet ???? Maybe Shumer is ‘’shorting”’ APWR cause he obviously is trying to personally torpedo APWR by getting behind American University paid shills touting a supposed research report that has been proven and publically ridiculed by many including the DOE and AWEA to be completely misleading and ””FACTUALLY FALSE”’. Congrats to you guys at American University for getting such great publicity, maybe you can join Sarah Palin and do stand up comedy for money since you obviously cannot do due diligence journalism research!!

Note to American University School of Journalism, and Senator Shumer, I would go LONG APWR for your future fortune cause you read it on the internet, it must be TRUTH! At least my site has a DISCLAIMER unlike American University site of hack and attack anything for fame and fortune………and making SHUMER look like an idiot in public???……….that is priceless…….did Shumer send you a thank you note for making him look like an idiot beleiving your false report and using your so called false facts in public ???????

Maybe American Universtiy operates under the pretense of any publicity is good publicity ???
When the DOE and AWEA comment about you, it must be high fives around the pizza boxes heh???????? And I am SURE Shumer is going to pay for more of your false statements and poorly written articles ????

Comedy at best ……..want an “”"OPINION”"” ???????? GO LONG APWR for the China Green Energy player cause with or without Texas China Wind Farm, APWR has CHINA and China is goiing to actually build wind farms unlike Americans who love to talk alot like you guys at American University and Shumer! MY OPINION ONLY !

its time for somebody to set the story straight!!!! Congrats to AWEA for stepping up to the plate to set the public straight!!! How could Shumer use such a poorly written research report as his facts before openning his mouth on something he obviously has not a clue about?????????

Why is ABC NEWS pulling a “”FoX”" news manuever and only reporting one side of the story ?? Controversy ?? U betcha!!!!!

the FOLLOWING BELOW is from the AWEA Website setting the RECORD STRAIGHT! I hope Senator Shumer has the ”’decency”’ to respond and admit ”’he was ”’TAKEN” by some writer who OBVIOUSLY has NOT a clue of what he wrote!!!!! Note to Chuma, if 4000 workers are IN COLORADO and working for Vestas who is a foreign based company, and they are BUILDING WIND TURBINES in USA on USA SOIL, the money spent on STIMULUS did NOT go overseas!!!

AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION RESPONSE TO AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STUDY/ABC WORLD NEWS STORY

ABC World News aired a story on February 9 based on a report by the American University purporting to show how stimulus, or Recovery Act, funds were being used to create jobs overseas. Their story could not be further from the truth. The Recovery Act funds have actually saved jobs and provided an economic stimulus to communities all across America.

Following are examples of inaccuracies and distortions that we believe warrant an on-air correction:

ABC/AU: “But the study found that nearly 80 percent of that money has gone to foreign manufacturers of wind turbines.”

Fact: 100% of Recovery Act money goes to wind projects built in the US. The convertible tax credit program referenced above does not go to turbine manufacturers. Every penny of the money from the Recovery Act is provided as a tax credit for investment in American wind projects built in the U.S. Over 50 percent of turbine value, such as towers, blades, nacelle assembly, and some internal components are made in the US.

ABC/AU: “Most of the jobs are going overseas,” said Russ Choma of the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University (AU).

Fact: Not true. Jobs in construction, transportation, civil and electrical engineering, and operations and maintenance are American and cannot be outsourced. Jobs in these areas were created and saved as a direct result of the Recovery Act and we have substantiated that. The reporter from AU provided no evidence of jobs created elsewhere.

ABC: “Even with the infusion of so much stimulus money, a recent report by American Wind Energy Association showed a drop in U.S. wind manufacturing jobs last year.”

Fact: Jobs increased in wind farm development and decreased in manufacturing ending the year with no losses overall in the industry. Were it not for the Recovery Act, we estimated a loss of as much as 40,000 jobs.

ABC/AU: “Several of the large European turbine manufacturers had limited manufacturing facilities in the United States. One reason so much money is going overseas is that there is not much of a wind power industry in the United States.”

Fact: The U.S. wind industry employs approximately 85,000 workers. In 3 years, we went from 2 turbine manufacturers with facilities in the U.S. to 9 and 4 more have announced plans for factories here. It takes time to ramp up an industry, but the US wind industry been going at full-speed since 2005 and prior to the financial crisis, adding, expanding or announcing over 55 new manufacturing shops in 2008.

These are just a few of the inaccuracies and distortions. Further, we were not given the opportunity to refute any of Mr. Choma’s findings even after we requested to have the opportunity to do so.