Employment

To establish the way by which the total activity linked to wind generation translates into job creation, either directly, or indirectly, in Galicia, we must distinguish between the construction phase and putting a farm into operation, with a marked upward trend in the difference between exploitation and components production.

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Putting into operation Exploitation Industry	204 207 723	965 348 807	792 465 804	499 534 815	204 566 896
Total	1.134	2.120	2.061	1.848	1.666

We can see from the above illustration that, of the total investment in a wind farm, 73.54% that feeds into the Galician economy corresponds to the bringing into operation expenditure. This percentage translates into the creation of 51 interim jobs – in one installation year – for each 23.2 MW farm. Exploitation expenditure and job creation are less in this instance, as no more than 7.25 workers are needed per unit generated of the same power.

During the period 2000-2005 an employment peak of 2,120 jobs was registered. From this point there was a gradual decline, as a result of the drop in construction activity. This is an interim factor, dependent on the number of farms installed each year. This means that if the projects needed to meet the provisions set out in the reform of the national Energy Plan and, if Galicia maintains its objective and places itself above 30% of Spanish wind production, interim employment figures will rise notably between 2006-2010, followed by a stable or even slight downward trend until 2020.

Vestas

When we speak of job creation, we mean continuous employment throughout the year, which is equivalent to full-time employment. An important component of this employment is attributed to an interim factor; as such real employment is around 24.91% higher than the nominal figure.

It is estimated that, by 2010, around 3,300 full-time jobs will have been created in Galicia. To this figure we must add the interim employment derived from the technological renovation of the farms.

To calculate indirect employment generated by the sector, we have based our studies on indirect employment calculations of medium-sized economies, measured in terms of per capita GDP. In these studies, indirect employment is counted on the basis of each job created in different sectors, with respect to which, there are three key sectors for comment: 

• Construction: for each job created 1.54 indirect or associated positions are generated. This indicator helps us to determine the creation of jobs associated with the wind generation field in the establishment phase of the farm. Almost all such indirect employment is related to this sector, whether in civil and electric work, line laying or the mounting of aerogenerators in the field.
• Calculations for indirect employment derived from exploitation of the farm can be conducted using the indicator determined for the real estate sector, business and from leasing, which stipulates 1.47 indirect, for every direct job. Selection of this field means that farm maintenance must be considered as a commercial service. In fact, the majority of cases look at companies without direct stakeholder relationship with the investor, meanwhile farm management and administration is easily found inside the accepted norms of business activity.
• Lastly, the indicator used to determine indirect employment in the industrial sector is industrial manufacturing, which creates 2.62 jobs for each direct one.

To obtain the indicator of direct employment generated in the Galician wind sector, we use the average annual figure for indirect employment created, where the value 2.039 is a multiple of employment. This allows us to estimate, for any exercise, the number of indirect jobs provided for in the Galician economy.

Indirect employment generation
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Total	2.313	4.323	4.203	3.767	3.396

By way of conclusion, the wind sector has become a good alternative for reconverting a large number of those jobs previously linked to naval construction, a sector in permanent crisis. Izar is a case in point; its diversification into the wind industry alleviated, in large measure, the labour tensions of Galician shipyard leading to the creation of 1,850 jobs in direct employment and 3,770 indirect positions, a large part of which was in the county of Ferrolterra.

Driven by an investment which represents 1.65% of total investment in Galicia and a full-time job creation momentum of 12%, wind generation is on the path to becoming an important reference point for the Galician economy, at the same level, until quite recently, as that of the naval construction sector.