Regional employment and income effects of a 50-MW wood-fired power plant

• Main Author: VanderWerf, P.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: 29 ENERGY PLANNING; POLICY AND ECONOMY; POWER PLANTS; ECONOMIC IMPACT; WOOD; VERMONT; CONSTRUCTION; DATA COMPILATION; EMPLOYMENT; FOOD INDUSTRY; FORECASTING; INCOME; INPUT-OUTPUT ANALYSIS; LABOR; OPERATION; REGIONAL ANALYSIS; RETAILERS; RURAL AREAS; TABLES; TEXTILE INDUSTRY; COMMERCIAL SECTOR; DATA; DATA FORMS; ECONOMIC ANALYSIS; ECONOMICS; INDUSTRY; INFORMATION; MARKETERS; NORTH AMERICA; NORTH ATLANTIC REGION; NUMERICAL DATA; USA; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/5915016; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5915016; https://doi.org/10.2172/5915016

Construction and operation of a 50-MW wood-fired power plant could have a profound influence on the rural region in which it is located. Using Department of Commerce regional data, input-output computer analysis techniques are employed to estimate the effects on local income and employment of constructing and operating such a plant in a three-county region in northern Vermont. In general, the result was a total new annual income for local industries of about double the plant's yearly outlay. The increase in local income also created new jobs; regional unemployment rates could theoretically drop about one-half of one percent because of the plant's presence. Because most of the plant's expenditures in the three-county region will be for labor, the industries that profit most from its spending will be the retail, wholesale, food, and apparel businesses, which depend on individual consumer sales. These businesses are likely to suffer a mild recession after the relatively intense two-year construction phase, as operation-phase annual expenditures are substantially lower than construction phase levels and require fewer workers. However, with proper planning, regional businesses and individual workers should be able to benefit substantially from both phases of the plant's activities.