On a cloudy fall day in 2023, Alfred Pebria and his fellow construction workers were installing a wind turbine in Solano County, California. They were trying to hoist a nacelle — a several-hundred-thousand-pound structure the size of a single-wide trailer that holds a turbine’s generator — to the top of a 344-foot tower. But part way up, the crane froze. “Can’t come down, can’t come up,” Pebria recalled. “Only thing that is coming up is the winds.”
The wind started whipping at the nacelle. Pebria made sure the taglines — long ropes used to stabilize a load — were taut so it wouldn’t take out the crane. Meanwhile, workers stood inside the tower, which gyrated in the wind. “It just so happened that day we had pizza for lunch,” Pebria said. “So there was pizza all over the (inside) of that tower — regurgitated pizza.”
After 45 minutes, the crew repaired the crane and successfully raised the nacelle. That project, owned by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, is one of about 10 wind-energy jobs that Pebria, a member of the Ironworkers Local 378 in Northern California, has worked.
Fortunately, lunch was the only casualty that day. But it felt like a close call. “There’s nothing safe about that job,” Pebria said. “You don’t manage safety. You manage the risk.” Workers need to watch out for equipment malfunctions, falls, electrical hazards and more. Companies may demand that they rack up 14-hour days to finish projects quickly, but the work requires focus and alertness to stay safe. In addition, job sites are often in remote locations, far from emergency services.
Despite the safety issues, Pebria, like other wind-energy workers who spoke with High Country News, loves the job. The wind workforce is growing rapidly; in 2023, wind had the second-highest employment numbers of any electricity generation sector — 131,327 jobs, over twice as many as coal. (Solar led with nearly three times as many.) People are drawn to the work for some of the same reasons that make it risky: the chance to visit remote places, travel, enjoy expansive views from the top of the tower. “You just feel that adrenaline just coming through your gums,” Pebria said.
When safety issues do arise, though, Pebria has something that most workers in the industry lack: union training and protection. Union members go through extensive on-the-job learning in registered apprenticeships, and, thanks to protections like project labor agreements, they can flag any safety concerns without fear of losing their jobs. “They can identify something that doesn’t look right to them, and they speak up with a collective voice instead of an individual voice,” said Chris Hannan, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, which includes the Ironworkers Local.
In 2023, wind had the second-highest employment numbers of any electricity generation sector — 131,327 jobs, over twice as many as coal.
The Dep