Just how many jobs are we talking?

The chain will create hundreds of jobs in Michigan, officials say. Northern Power Systems said it will hire 137 workers at its Saginaw plant by 2014, and Heritage Sustainable Energy plans to create 80 direct and indirect jobs.

But that's just the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Since these puppies are being built right here in the US using American made parts, it's going to create quite a few more jobs. Keep in mind, the OEM mostly just ASSEMBLES the final product. They don't do a lot of the small parts manufacturing. And that's where the jackpot is in terms of jobs.

This is a welcome development.

Some pals and I formed an organization to promote wind power in West Michigan called the West Michigan Jobs Group. We've managed to lure a 150 MW on-shore wind farm to the area, and that one appears like it's going forward, and the county wants to form a pubic-private partnership with L3 Combat Propulsion Systems, who recently bought out a wind turbine company, to manufacture them right here in Muskegon.

We're pretty thrilled.

Anyway...some members of the West Michigan Jobs Group went to a wind power manufacturers convention in Grand Rapids a few months ago, and they came back pretty disheartened. The OEM manufacturers that spoke at the convention seemed fairly...I guess the word would be snooty...about the prospect of moving to the upper midwest for some reason, or even buying parts in the United States suggesting that there simply wasn't the manufacturing know-how to make wind turbine parts in the US.

Bullshit, as it turns out. An increasing number of turbine parts are being manufactured right here. Just to name a few: Wind turbine bearings at Kaydon Bearings in Muskegon, Energetx wind turbine blades in Holland, MI, Ventower making turbine towers in Monroe Michigan, Danotek making magnet generator parts in Canton, Michigan...and of course Northern Power Systems moving into Saginaw.

Shux, it's not all doom and gloom out there.

Green manufacturing is getting a foothold.

And next spring, once the snow and ice starts to melt, a high tech $3.7 million dollar bouy will be placed 6 miles off the Muskegon shore linein Lake Michigan. The goal of the floating gadgetry will be to test wind and water conditions for potential offshore wind turbines.

A federal grant helped fund the $3.7 million project spearheaded by Grand Valley State University's Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center in Muskegon. The initial plan for the Lake Michigan Offshore Wind Assessment Project was to provide a demonstration wind turbine on Muskegon Lake. But it was cost prohibitive and not as practical as a floating buoy that could collect test data in different locations on the lake, MAREC officials said.

It's pretty amazing, eh?