Schumer Urges Obama to Block Funds for Chinese-Backed Wind Farm

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- A $1.5 billion wind-farm project in Texas should be banned from receiving U.S. government stimulus funds because most of the power turbines would be made in China, Senator Charles Schumer said.

“The idea that stimulus funds would be used to create jobs overseas is quite troubling,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, wrote in a draft of a letter he plans to send to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today. “I urge you to reject any request for stimulus money unless the high-value components, including the wind turbines, are manufactured in the United States.”

U.S. Renewable Energy Group, a private-equity firm based in Washington, and Cielo Wind Power LP, a closely held company in Austin, Texas, said last week they formed a joint venture with China’s Shenyang Power Group to build the 600-megawatt wind farm. The 36,000 acre-project marks the largest Chinese-American investment in U.S. renewable energy, the companies said.

A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd. of China, Shenyang’s largest shareholder, is set to supply turbines for the farm.

The venture will be funded by Chinese banks as well as take advantage of financing through the U.S.’s $787 billion economic stimulus law, Cappy McGarr, managing partner of U.S. Renewable Energy Group, said at a news conference in Washington last week.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing, a Washington-based coalition of steel companies and the United Steelworkers union, also has criticized the project.

“Why aren’t American firms building this clean energy project?” the group asked in a Nov. 2 statement.

A U.S. Energy Department spokesman, Dan Leistikow, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net .