At a press event using the Steel Winds wind farm on Lake Erie as a backdrop, local environmental and labor advocates said policies to encourage renewable energy can help create parts-making jobs, as well as construction, assembly and maintenance work.
The study, by the Renewable Energy Policy Project, estimates the economic impact of adding 185,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity nationally over 10 years. There are 167 companies in Erie County poised to benefit by supplying wind, solar, geothermal and biomass generating industries, it said.