Into the Wind - the AWEA Blog

Eagle Claw Fabrication, LLC, yesterday announced plans to build a 150,000-square-foot factory specifically designed for construction of wind turbine towers at the Port of Muskogee, Okla. The firm said it expects to create approximately 175 jobs in Phase 1 of the project.

Ground breaking for the $28 million plant is targeted for the third quarter of 2010, and the manufacturing facility is scheduled to come online as early as spring of 2011. Eagle Claw plans to move to full capacity late in 2011 to meet what it described as "pent-up and growing demand for new wind towers."

Eagle Claw said it intends to be the most efficient manufacturer of wind turbine towers in the southern part of the central U.S. wind corridor, adding, "The Company anticipates that its new ...

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In news from our WINDPOWER 2010 Conference & Exhibition, global power generation giant Alstom said it will open a wind turbine assembly plant in Amarillo, Tex. that will create 275 full-time engineering, production and technical support jobs.

Andy Geissbuehler, Vice President and General Manager of Alstom Wind North America, said, "Amarillo is a compelling location for our wind turbine assembly facility in North America because it is centrally located with excellent access to future wind power projects. In addition, Amarillo has demonstrated impressive foresight by investing in the real estate and infrastructure that ideally suits our ...

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Guest blog by AWEA Communications Editor Carl Levesque

Arkansas has landed another wind manufacturer.

Beckmann Volmer, a producer of major steel components for wind turbines, this week announced it will locate a new manufacturing facility employing approximately 300 people, and potentially 500, in Osceola, Ark.

The company, a direct supplier to turbine manufacturer Nordex, will invest $10 million in the new facility, where the 300-person staff will be employed at an average hourly wage of $18. The announcement exemplifies the geographic ripple effect of the wind power supply chain and how component producers prefer to be near the customers they supply—whether in the same country or, in this case, the same state. Nordex is also ...

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Ontario's chief medical officer of health has released a new report saying there is no evidence that wind turbine sound causes adverse health effects.

The Ontario finding appears to be in accord with the findings of a scientific panel convened by AWEA and the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) to review the existing literature on wind turbine sound and health.

While we are not surprised, it's good to hear yet again that wind energy, which we know has substantial positive effects on human health through displacing air ...

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A survey just released by the Kansas Department of Labor finds strong potential for growth in green jobs in the state, especially in renewable energy.

The voluntary survey of employers in the state found that they expect to add 10,000 workers by 2012 to the 20,000 green jobs already existing, and project growth of 121% in renewable energy development.

Given the very sluggish response of the national unemployment rate to the overall recovery now underway, that can only be good news. America urgently needs strong renewable energy and energy efficiency industries--yesterday.

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Guest blog by AWEA Communications Editor Carl Levesque

A business diversification initiative into the wind power arena by Ingersoll Machine Tools, supported by a $5 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will result in the creation and retention of some 150 jobs in Rockford, Ill.

The company announced a major diversification in its activities with the introduction of two product lines specifically designed for the wind industry. The $5 million grant was awarded through the Green Industry Business Development Program, a component of Illinois’s State Energy Plan that is administered by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and funded by ARRA.

Announcing the news at Ingersoll’s Rockford ...

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There is a new phenomenon in the global arena called “Climate Refugees”. A climate refugee is a person displaced by climatically induced environmental disasters. Such disasters result from incremental and rapid ecological change, resulting in increased droughts, desertification, sea level rise, and the more frequent occurrence of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, cyclones, fires, mass flooding and tornadoes. All this is causing mass global migration and border conflicts. For the first time, the Pentagon now considers climate change a national security risk and the term "climate wars" is being talked about in war-room-like environments in Washington, D.C.

According to the United Nations, more refugees (over 25 million) are now displaced by environmental ...

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The following was posted yesterday in response to a letter in the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune talking about wind's "intermittency" and wondering how much net energy a wind turbine produces:

Quote :

Wind is actually more variable than "intermittent"--a typical wind farm will generate some electricity 65% to 90% of the time, depending on the wind speed patterns. Much of the time, it will be generating at less than full capacity, which is why its "capacity factor" (its average generation divided by its full capacity) is more like 40% at the best sites.

Second, wind has a rapid "energy payback"--something that has been documented by numerous studies in the U.S. and elsewhere dating ...

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently announced their selection of four organizations with which they will partner on regional centers to test small wind turbines to national and international performance standards. Each partner organization will receive funding, training, and technical support for the testing of two small wind turbines.

The organizations selected are: Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc., in New York; Kansas State University; The Alternative Energy Institute at West Texas A&M University; and Windward Engineering, LLC, in Utah.

The goal of the Regional Test Center project is to support the U.S. small wind market by ...

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Germany's ZF Group, a major manufacturer of drive train equipment, broke ground recently on a $90-million wind turbine gearbox factory in Gainesville, GA.

The new plant, company officials said, will employ 215 workers when it is fully operational in 2012.

At the same time, it offers yet another concrete answer (along with other wind equipment factories going up in Arkansas, South Carolina and elsewhere) to Congressional opponents of a national Renewable Electricity Standard (RES).

Those opponents have argued strenuously that an RES (a national requirement that utilities obtain a minimum percentage of their ...

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