A-Power Flexes Its Political Muscle

LIAONING, China (TheStreet) -- Who says Chinese alternative energy players can't rival U.S. senators in political gamesmanship?

Chinese wind power provider A-Power Energy Generation Systems(SPWR) and its U.S.-based partners announced on Thursday plans to build a wind turbine production and assembly plant in Nevada that will create up to 1,000 permanent jobs for the state and more jobs during the construction phase.

The announcement about the Nevada plant was notable for two reasons: the selection of Nevada as home state for the wind energy plant, and the political power broker who is associated with the state.

A-Power and its main U.S. partner -- the U.S. Renewable Energy Group -- have previously said that they would build a plant in the U.S. to supply wind turbines to the huge West Texas wind farm for which A-Power was selected as the turbine provider. The companies had never mentioned a location, though.

Last week, New York Senator Charles Schumer continued his attack against the West Texas wind farm and A-Power Energy. It has been a grandstanding senatorial broadside against China stealing U.S. jobs that Schumer has been beating since last November and the original announcement of A-Power's selection to build the wind farm.

Schumer had previously asked the Obama administration to pull any funding for alternative energy projects that did not create jobs in the U.S. In last week's extension of Schumer's attack, the New York senator introduced legislation to block funding.

The announcement from A-Power and its U.S. partner on Thursday could be seen as bowing to the political pressure voiced most loudly and consistently by Schumer. However, the alignment with Nevada and its senator -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- could prove the cleverest and most calculated political move of all.