WASHINGTON, September 20, 2017 - American wind energy industry leaders have donated $1 million to hurricane repair and rebuilding as keystone partners of Habitat for Humanity’s Habitat Hammers Back initiative. The funds will support repairs and rebuilding efforts in areas affected by storms in Texas, Florida and other areas.
Participating wind companies include Apex Clean Energy, Blattner Energy, Duke Energy, EDF Renewable Energy, EDP Renewables, Enel Green Power North America Inc., E.ON North America, Goldwind Americas, Hannon Armstrong, Invenergy, Leeward Renewable Energy, MAP Royalty, Pattern Energy, TPI Composites and the American Wind Energy Association. The companies also plan to send volunteers to help with the rebuilding effort.“These generous partners share our commitment to helping families recover from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma,” said Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford. “Dow, GM and Thrivent share a long history of supporting our work, and we are pleased to welcome the support of representatives from the wind industry. Their contributions allow us to be on the ground to respond to the storms without delay.”
Texas has a quarter of U.S. wind power capacity and over 22,000 Texans work in the industry, among 102,500 wind jobs nationwide. The state’s over 12,000 wind turbines themselves emerged unscathed from the storm.
Texas has the largest installed base of wind power in the nation, and the industry nationally employs over 100,000 workers. A number of wind energy families were directly affected by Hurricane Harvey.
“More than 22,000 wind workers are in the state of Texas so this has hit very close to home for us,” said Steven C. Lockard, president and CEO of TPI Composites. “We all feel the need to help with this rebuilding effort.”
Habitat is already at work responding to Hurricane Harvey, helping families to clean up and prepare for the rebuilding effort to come. Habitat will work with its local offices throughout the hurricane-affected regions to assess the shelter and housing needs and develop response options. In addition to long-term housing repair and construction.
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