Subject: RE: Chinese Wind Power Group to Build Factory in Nevada
From: "Neil Callahan" <[email-masked]>
To: "'Eric Schwerin'" <[email-masked]>, "'Hunter Biden'" <[email-masked]>, "'Michael Muldoon'" <[email-masked]>, "'Devon Archer'" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 12:44:09 -0500

I wonder what Labor's point of view is on labor in China or Chinese
operations in the US?  Is any of the labor in China Unionized?

 

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Neil Callahan

Rosemont Seneca

401 Greenwich Street, Suite 400 | New York NY 10013 | 212-933-9965

1010 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 705 | Washington DC 20007 | 202-333-1880

917-945-9516 (mobile) 

866-749-8879  (fax) 

From: Eric Schwerin [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 12:05 PM
To: Hunter Biden; Michael Muldoon; Devon Archer; Neil Callahan
Subject: Chinese Wind Power Group to Build Factory in Nevada

Chinese Wind Power Group to Build Factory in Nevada

The power plant will be in Texas but the wind turbine factory will be in the
Silver State.

  <http://www.greentechmedia.com/content/images/articles/wind-desert.jpg> 

Chinese companies know technology -- and the U.S. political system, too.

China's A-Power Energy Generation Systems said it will build a previously
announced U.S. wind turbine assembly facility in Nevada, a move that U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid saluted.

Last year, A-Power, along with Shenyang Power Group, U.S. Renewable Energy
Group and Cielo Wind Power announced plans to build a  $1.5 billion,
600-megawatt wind farm in Texas. China's A-Power Generation said it would
provide the wind turbines and a Chinese bank said it would provide
financing. After Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) complained
<http://.%20http/www.greentechmedia.com/green-light/post/chinese-wind-power-
maker-to-set-up-factory-in-u.s/> that the project would lead to 2,800 jobs
in China and 240 in the U.S., A-Power announced it would build a factory in
the U.S. that would employ 1,000. So now Schumer and Reid are placated and
in a few years people in Texas will get power.

Just so no one misses the historic significance of this announcement, this
is a Chinese manufacturer building a factory in the U.S. to supply equipment
to a power provider largely funded and managed by Chinese companies. China
is opting not to leverage its own low domestic labor costs. Nevada wages may
be low, but they aren't as low as the wages offered in China. This is an
example of how management, technological ability, financial and marketing
savvy have grown in China in recent years.

Suntech Power Holdings is building a solar assembly plant in China.
Meanwhile, BYD and Coda plan to bring electric cars built with Chinese
batteries and factories to the U.S. Coda's battery partner has a $450
million loan from a Chinese bank.

What does this mean? Like Japanese companies and South Korean companies
before them, Chinese companies are graduating from serving as
behind-the-scenes manufacturers and becoming global brand names in their own
right -- and
<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/is-alternative-energy-chinas-pa
th-to-a-brand/> it is happening in energy first. In fact, there is a
<http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/will-your-next-employer-come-fr
om-china/> good chance your next employer will come from China.

-- 
Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners
(202) 333-1880
[email-masked]