CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa -- The most recent government data show that the unemployment rate in Johnstown, Pa., is lower than the national average.

Some credit the wind turbine plant in Ebensburg, Pa., for helping to get the local economy back on track after the steel mills shut down, Johnstown television news station WJAC reported.

Video | Images: Inside The Factory

"Unemployment at the time was considered the highest in the country -- at 17 percent," said Andy Lasky, owner of Johnstown's City View Bar & Grill. "It was a very difficult time for the community."

Enter Gamesa, a foreign company from Spain, which chose Cambria County to be the site for its new factory. Now, more than 270 employees work around the clock to make 11 fiberglass wind turbine blades a week -- a commodity so popular, it's sold out through 2010.

"The company thinks the Ebensburg plant is one of the finest blade-producing plants we have worldwide," said Gamesa spokesman Michael Peck. "I think the wind turbine manufacturing business in Johnstown-Ebensburg will be there for a long time."

To prove this, Gamesa is in the process of expanding. The company is clearing land outside its plant to make more room to store the 7-ton fiberglass blades that are half a football field long.

The growth doesn't stop there. Gamesa spokesman Michael Peck said the company would like to build more factories in the area -- ones that can make all of the turbine parts that are now shipped in from overseas.

"We're going to build a family of companies that accompany Gamesa on a worldwide basis," Peck explained. "We're going to bring them here to the United States. We're already in the process of doing that."

According to industry insiders, the renewable energy industry has generated more than 8.5 million green-collar jobs. That number could quadruple by the year 2030 -- especially with foreign companies, like Gamesa, eyeing the rust belt for future factories.

A major problem, however, threatens to slow the green-collar growth. As wind farms sprout up around the country, our aging electric infrastructure can't keep up. In other words, our power grid is like a two-lane road when what we need is a transmission superhighway.

"[Congress] needs to get to a solution, and you need to move!" said T. Boon Pickens, an oil millionaire turned wind activist. "You need to start getting the power grid access to the wind corridor."

Plugging in more turbines is easier said than done. Both developers and utilities are reluctant to pay the price to build new lines. As a result, the cost of plugging in more turbines could eventually be passed on to us, the electric customers.

Wind advocates say that unless the bottlenecks are cleared, Cambria County's county green-collar growth may stall, so soon after getting a second wind.