Schumer: No Hearings (For Now) on Chinese-Backed Texas Wind Farm
Barely a week after it was announced, a $1.5 billion, Chinese-backed 600-megawatt Texas wind farm is in hot water.
In a letter released today, Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) urged Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the Obama administration to deny the wind project’s Chinese backers stimulus funds — they were seeking $450 million in government money – to finance a portion of the project.
Is Senator Schumer’s letter a first salvo on the way to hearings? A spokesman with the senator’s Washington office tells us that’s not likely. “We’re sending the letter for now in the hopes that the secretary would deny the funding,” he explains.
In his letter to Secretary Chu, Schumer writes (scroll below for a full copy of the letter):
The idea that stimulus funds would be used to create jobs overseas is quite troubling and, therefore, I urge you to reject any request for stimulus money unless the high-value components, including the wind turbines, are manufactured in the United States.
The Texas wind project stands out because it’s set to be the first Chinese-backed green power project in the U.S. It will be powered by wind turbines manufactured by China’s A-Power Energy Generation Systems. As we reported here, A-Power actually licenses it turbines from American and European companies.
In announcing the project last Friday, project developers highlighted that it would create a total of 330 Texas-based jobs. However of those, only 30 would be permanent, compared to the 2,000 China-based jobs the project is expected to create, The New York Times‘ Green Inc. reports.
The project is led by the Shenyang Power Group. Also involved is an outfit called the United States Renewable Energy Group. (We emailed U.S. Renewable using the email address posted on their site. But that address came back as invalid.)
In his letter, Schumer also addresses China’s growing dominance in the clean energy market. The country may have one coal-fired power plant coming online every day, but it’s also investing over $220 billion over the next two years to prop up its clean energy portfolio.
The Obama administration is very much aware of China’s growing dominance in the clean energy space. At a recent White House event, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke (# 6 in GER’s latest Top Ten Players in Green Energy ranking) warned attendees that at the current pace, Shanghai, not Silicon Valley, might lead the green energy revolution. “If we don’t get our act together, we’re going to be watching the capital, the businesses and the good paying jobs ending up in Shanghai instead of Silicon Valley or other communities across America,” he said.
Senator Schumer is playing hardball with Chinese companies. The reality is that Chinese authorities have also made it difficult for U.S. clean energy companies to access their lucrative market, estimated at between $500 million and $1 trillion a year, by imposing 70 percent “local content” requirement for wind projects built in China. The government has also awarded all wind contracts issued so far to Chinese-owned companies even when foreign companies meet the 70 percent threshold by opening factories in China,writes Green Inc.
Last week, Secretary Locke did broker a deal with his Chinese counterpart that eased local content requirement for wind turbines.
This is not the first time Schumer has mounted an offensive again a foreign business interest. Back in 2006 he was able to derail the takeover of six U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World. The United Arab Emirates company ended up selling the ports to a unit of AIG.
Senator Schumer’s letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu:
