JEDI: Jobs and Economic Development Impacts Model, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) (Fact Sheet)

The Jobs and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) models are user-friendly tools that estimate the economic impacts of constructing and operating power generation and biofuel plants at the local (usually state) level. First developed by NREL's Wind Powering America program to model wind energy jobs and impacts, JEDI has been expanded to biofuels, concentrating solar power, coal, and natural gas power plants. Based on project-specific and default inputs (derived from industry norms), JEDI estimates the number of jobs and economic impacts to a local area (usually a state) that could reasonably be supported by a power generation project. For example, JEDI estimates the number of in-state construction jobs from a new wind farm. This fact sheet provides an overview of the JEDI model as it pertains to wind energy projects.