The companies did not say where the proposed 320,000-square-foot “state-of-the-art” factory would be located. It will employ 1,000 American workers at full production capacity.

Such a plant would be large but not as large as others in the US such as one owned by Vestas in Colorado that will employ 2,500 people when in full operation. The US wind industry installed 8,500MW of wind power in 2008

They did emphasize that many of the key turbine components will be sourced from U.S. manufacturers, further expanding the number of jobs created in the US.

"US-REG and A-Power are combining investment, expertise, and resources to bring clean, reliable, and affordable renewable technologies to the marketplace," says Ed Cunningham, US-REG managing partner.

"This planned investment will spur tremendous growth and allow many out of work Americans to re-enter the work force in the high-paying, renewable energy sector, he adds.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, publicly demanded that a 600MW wind farm in West Texas proposed by A-Power, US-REG and developer Cielo Power in West Texas be excluded from receiving federal funding.

Schumer and several other members of Congress said the $1.5bn project should not receive a 30% cash grant under the $787bn February economic stimulus law because all 240 turbines would be built in China, and few permanent jobs would be created here.

It remains to be seen if building the turbines here would improve the consortium’s chance of tapping stimulus funding.

A-Power parent company Shenyang Power Group would have a 49% stake in the Texas project, with US-REG and Cielo holding the remainder between them.

A-Power has a new turbine manufacturing plant in Shenyang, China, that uses technology licensed from Germany’s Furlander AG, GE Drivetrain Technologies, based in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Norwin of Denmark. The plant has capacity to produce 1,125MW a year of turbines.

"We are committed to clean energy development and we are excited to partner with US-REG to build a production and assembly plant in the United States," says John Lin, A-Power's director and chief operating officer.