A new study by the Environmental Law and Policy Center shows that the solar and wind manufacturing industries in Michigan employ more than 10,000 people in the state. The study said the industries are the fastest growing industries in the heavily recession-struck state.

The study, “The Solar and Wind Energy Supply Chain in Michigan,” said that the majority of jobs created—6,300—were in solar manufacturing, while 4,000 were in wind manufacturing positions. In all, there are now 121 solar-power-supply-chain businesses and 120 wind-power-supply-chain businesses.

The organization has performed similar studies in other states.

“We completed a wind supply chain study for Illinois and Iowa, and a wind and solar study for Ohio. We are currently updating the Illinois study to include solar, geothermal and possibly biomass,” said the center’s Environmental Business Specialist, Ashley Craig. “We may work on a few other Midwestern states.”

Some of the companies also are repurposing old automotive and industrial plants. “Quite a few are,” Craig said. She offered 3M and Merrill Technologies as two examples.

Most of the industry’s growth is fresh, said Michigan Economic Development Corp. spokesperson Michael Shore. “Most of these jobs, 85 percent to 90 percent, are new, within the last three years. And they’re going to continue to grow,” he said. That’s largely in part because Michigan has invested heavily in bringing more renewable industry jobs to the state.

Still, 10,000 jobs is a drop in the bucket. Shore said he thought a couple of years back 1 percent unemployment in the state was equal to about 30,000 jobs. No one, he said, has looked at how much the renewables industries have reduced unemployment in the state.

In the coming years the renewables industry is expected to grow, according to Shore.

“We did the calculations at the end of last year and found that there were over 90,000 jobs projected to grow in the clean energy manufacturing sectors, based on investments we had either provided incentives for or were aware of over a 10-year period,” he said. “I think our folks think it will happen sooner than that, but those are our projections.”

“There’s more coming online,” he said.

Right now, battery storage and solar and wind facilities are growing. The investment, said Shore, is starting to pay off.

And right now, The Environmental Law and Policy Center’s study said, renewable manufacturing jobs are the fastest growing industry in Michigan.

“It’s probably true. I think that is true,” Shore said. “Because of the decline in autos in the last decade, we developed a lot of different programs.”

Image courtesy of the Detroit Electrical Joint Apprentice Training Committee.