Spanish utility Iberdrola is committing $8 billion to stake a big claim in American wind energy. The investment will take place from now until 2010, constituting a major push that the company hopes will garner it 15% of the total U.S. wind market, doubling its current capacity here.

Iberdrola already had 2,400 megawatts of installed capacity at the end of the first quarter of 2008 and expects to have 3,600 MW by year's end. Based in Bilbao, Spain, the utility is already the 2nd biggest U.S. wind operator, with $9 billion already sunk into the market and 700 employees throughout North America. In all, the company boasts 8,200 MW of wind capacity worldwide.

This latest move is part of a broader trend in foreign companies tapping the United States'  thirst for renewables. America is a big country with a huge carbon problem. Somebody is going to get rich from our need to slash our GHG budget. It may as well be America. Studies seem to be supporting the theory that green collar jobs can recoup some of the losses from industrial layoffs and shutdowns.

But even when non-U.S. firms are the ones signing contracts, there's usually an American winner too. Iberdrola also announced recently that it will be buying 300 megawatts worth of turbines from GE. And with the likes of T. Boone Pickens splashing around in wind futures, America might wake up in time to control its own green energy destiny.