An announcement made by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu is good news for the Wind Energy Industry in California. Chu revealed that 28 new wind energy projects across the country will receive up to $13.8 million in funding for wind energy turbine research and testing and transmission analysis, planning, and assessments. Chu identified wind energy as a critical factor in President Obama's plan to spur job growth by supporting clean energy projects.
On the same day as the announcement the DOE released the 2008 Wind Technologies Market Report. This report shows that the U.S wind energy industry is growing at a fast pace. The Market Report identifies the U.S. wind power market as the fastest growing wind power market for the fourth year in a row. Wind power remains the second largest new resource added to the grid (wind power contributed 42 percent of all new U.S. electrical generation capacity in 2008). There were more than 8,400 domestic manufacturing jobs added to the in the wind sector in California and the rest of the country last year.
