Interpreting Results
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The Jobs and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) model estimates the number of jobs and economic benefits associated with power generation projects.
JEDI provides default information to help users identify construction related spending and ongoing operating and maintenance (O&M) spending as well as the portion of the spending that occurs locally (this is determined by the default or user modified "local share" values used for each line item). The model also estimates local spending on debt and equity payments, property taxes and land lease or purchase payments.
In addition to basic project information JEDI provides results for local jobs, earnings (wages and salaries), and output (all economic activity related to the project) generated as a result of the project. This includes the one-time impacts resulting from the construction phase as well as annualized impacts from plant operation. All jobs reported are full-time equivalent (e.g., one person works half-time for one year, it is counted as 0.5 jobs; four people working full-time for three months = 1 job).
Example: A user interested in understanding the economic impacts from a 100 MW solar-powered parabolic trough plant in California to be built in 2008 can quickly and easily find the approximate jobs associated by using the JEDI model. Inputting the size and year of the project into the model (in project description) and accepting the model defaults indicates that the construction of the plant will support over 2,000 local jobs (full-time equivalent for a year) and generate over $330 million in local economic activity during the construction period. Of the total jobs, almost 600 are in the construction sector. Alternately, if the project were built over a two year period, the total number of jobs supported (2,000) would average 1,000 for each of the years (divide total jobs by number of years). Similarly, the number of construction sector jobs would average 300 per year for each of the years (600 divided by 2).
Once in operation, this project continues to benefit the state. Over 100 jobs (full-time equivalent for each year of operation) are supported, with approximately 35 directly employed at the plant. The total annual local economic activity supported by ongoing operations is just over $14 million.
Model Run Summaries and Conclusions
When comparing summary results from JEDI models for different technologies, it is best to compare facilities with equivalent energy production rather than comparing facilities with similar nameplate capacity (e.g., compare jobs to kilwatt-hours, not jobs to installed kilowatts). In either case, capacity factor and energy production should be considered when comparing economic development benefits of different power generation technologies.
Full-time equivalent jobs
Job calculations are based on a full time equivalent (FTE) basis for a year. In other words, 1 job = 1 FTE = 2080 hours worked in a year. A part time or temporary job may be considered one job by other measures, but would constitute only a fraction of a job according to the JEDI model. For example, if an engineer worked only 3 months on a wind farm project (assuming no overtime), that would be considered one-quarter of a job by the JEDI model.
Impacts During Construction
Project Development and On-site Labor Impacts:
This category includes money spent on labor (wages and salaries and associated benefits) for people working to develop the project such as environmental technicians and lawyers, and people who construct the project such as road builders and concrete pourers. These impacts encompass jobs that are performed on-site at a given power plant, as well as basic project development services and construction management. This category is divided into the following two subcategories that do not include any parts or materials:
- Construction and Interconnection Labor:
These jobs are calculated based on cost and local share information entered in these fields in the JEDI model: Foundation, Erection, Electrical, Management/Supervision, and HV Sub/Interconnection Labor fields.
Examples: crane operators, road contractors, construction managers, electricians, tower erectors, excavation workers, backhoe operators, foundation workers, installation workers - Construction related services:
These jobs are calculated based on cost and local share information entered in the Engineering and Legal Services fields in the JEDI model.
Examples: civil and electrical engineers, attorneys, permitting specialists
Turbine, Power Plant Components, and Supply Chain Impacts:
This category includes the actual parts of the power plant (e.g., wind turbine blades or gas fired turbines) as well as the smaller components that make up the parts (e.g., fiberglass for the blades and compressors for turbines). Impacts in this category are derived from spending on project development and on-site labor (hard hat purchases), equipment costs (turbines, blades, towers, transportation), manufacturing of components required to produce these components, materials (construction, transformer, electrical, HV line extension, HV sub-interconnection materials), and the supply chain of inputs required to produce these materials. This category also includes expenses such as land easements, site certificate/permitting, and miscellaneous labor.
Examples: turbine manufacturers, turbine suppliers, gear manufacturers, blade manufacturers, blade suppliers, glass fiber manufacturers, tower manufacturers, tower suppliers, rebar manufacturers, gravel workers, banks, cement producers, accountants, heavy equipment rental companies, bookkeepers, etc.
Induced Impacts:
These impacts refer to jobs and economic impacts that result from spending by workers involved in the first two categories (Project Development and On-site Labor Impacts as well as Turbine, Power Plant Components, and Supply Chain Impacts).
Impacts During Operations
On-site Labor Impacts:
These impacts relate to power plant workers, their administrative staff and managers only. Jobs calculation based on cost and local share information provided in the JEDI model cells called: Field Salaries, Administrative, and Management.
Examples: clerical and bookkeeping support, site managers, field technicians, O&M workers, etc.
Local Revenue and Supply Chain Impacts:
These impacts are derived from expenditures related to on-site labor, materials and services needed to operate the power plant (vehicles, site maintenance/misc services, fees, permits, licenses, utilities, insurance, fuel, consumables/tools and misc supplies, replacement parts/equipment, spare parts inventory), the supply chain of inputs required to produce these goods and services, and project revenues that flow to the local economy in the form of land lease revenue, property tax revenue, and revenue to equity investors.
Examples: turbine, blade and tower component suppliers, motor vehicle retailers, hardware and tool retailers, tool manufacturers, maintenance providers, metal fabricators, welders, material suppliers, agents at insurance companies, attendants at gas stations (for the vehicles used to operate and maintain the power plants), local government employees, local utilities, bookkeeping and accountants, banks, lawyers, etc.
Induced Impacts:
Refers to activities that result from income spent by workers involved in the first two categories (on-site labor and local revenue and supply chain impacts).
Examples: a wind farm technician who spends income (from working at the wind farm) by buying a car, house, groceries, gasoline, etc; or a worker at a hardware store who provides spare parts and materials needed at the wind farm and who spends money in a similar fashion, thus supporting jobs and economic activities in different sectors of the economy.
The total impact of the construction and operation of the power plant, as defined by JEDI, is the sum of the above three categories. State-specific multipliers and personal spending patterns are used to derive the results each time the model is run. State multipliers for employment, wage and salary, and personal spending patterns are derived from the IMPLAN (IMpact Analysis for PLANning) Professional Model using currently available data. Changes in spending patterns brought about by investments in power generation development or biofuel plants are matched with appropriate industry multipliers. If the year for which the expenditures (dollars) are entered does not match the model's multiplier data year, the JEDI model applies price deflators to account for changes in actual dollar value. The summary results must then be converted back to the original dollar year entered by the user.
