Despite millions in tax credits, wind-energy firms aren't hiring

WASHINGTON

The growth in wind-farm installations in the U.S. was a product of federal stimulus spending. Nonetheless, wind-equipment manufacturers cut as many as 2,000 jobs last year. According to the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group, the drop in U.S. jobs is due, in part, to the lack of a long-term national policy that would require a certain percentage of American electricity to come from renewable sources.

About half the wind turbines installed in the U.S. were made overseas.

A check with some companies that want to get into the wind-manufacturing business found that even some qualifying for clean-energy-manufacturing tax credits aren’t able to create jobs quickly because they don’t see enough demand for wind energy.

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