Wind energy

New Mexico ranked first nationally for windfarm construction last year, according to a new study that sees the state’s rural communities benefitting especially from an influx of investment that is expected to continue. The wind industry has invested $3 billion in New Mexico and created about 3,000 jobs: “Employment runs the full gamut, from front-end field workers who assess wind resources and work with local communities to construction jobs and long-term employment for operations and maintenance folks. “Wind technicians make up one of the two fastest-growing jobs nationwide alongside solar installers.”

Costs for renewable technologies are decreasing. In Colorado, Xcel will replace two coal-burning units with built from scratch wind and solar plants and still save money.

"What stands out about the response Xcel received is that wind sources with storage are now cheaper than coal generation, and solar plus storage is now cheaper than about 75 percent of coal generation in the state, according to CarbonTracker."

Energy Transition Openings Now in the Four-Corners Region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah

Several Trump administration policy proposals aimed at propping up the coal industry stand to slow the growth momentum of solar- and wind-powered electricity generation. They include “asking regulators to rewrite power market rules, revamping the tax code, and imposing tariffs on foreign-made solar panels.”

Two members of Congress are proposing expanding an important gas-and-oil tax-break mechanism to the solar and wind industries. The mechanism, called a master limited partnership, or MLP, is “one of biggest boons for the oil-and-gas sector,”allowing companies “to lighten their tax loads and get easier access to investment in pipelines and other projects.”

Demand for solar- and wind-energy technicians is expected to double over the next decade, according to the latest employment-projection trends from the Labor Department.

Global coal-fired electricity production has flat-lined over the past few years and is now in decline. Wind and solar are the up-and-coming industries not just in China, Europe and India but in the U.S. as well.