Nordex USA Inc., a leading manufacturer of wind turbines, on July 20 announced that it will begin construction this week on its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, Ark. The announcement comes after a decision by the supervisory board of the parent company, Nordex AG.
"After much careful planning, we are eager to break ground and make the plant a reality," said Ralf Sigrist, president and CEO of Nordex USA, which is headquartered in Chicago. "The plant is critical to our goal of generating 20 percent of global revenue in the U.S., and I must say I am extremely pleased that construction will begin on schedule."
The U.S. is on track to be the world's single largest wind market in 2010, with 8,500 megawatts of new capacity projected. Globally, that represents 23 percent of expected new capacity. The Arkansas plant will position Nordex to be a key competitor in the U.S., building on its growth of over 50 percent for four consecutive years. "The U.S. is hungry for wind power," said Sigrist, "and Jonesboro will supply it with the highest-quality turbines in the world."
Construction will take place in two phases, beginning with the nacelle assembly plant and followed by a rotor blade manufacturing facility at the same location. Nacelle assembly will begin ramping up in the second half of 2010, operating at full scale by 2012 with an annual production capacity of 300 turbines, or 750 megawatts. The entire facility, including rotor blade production, will be fully operational by 2014.
The nacelle plant will be built on 187 acres in the Craighead Technology Park and will have 115,000 square feet of production space, 10,000 square feet for a training academy and 35,000 square feet of office space.
An official ceremony will take place in September to celebrate the groundbreaking and construction.
Building a new industry and new skills
The plant represents a total investment of $100 million, with about $40 million allocated to the nacelle plant and the remainder to the rotor blade facility. It will directly employ up to 700 skilled workers and other staff by 2014.
"In a time when our economy has slowed, it's gratifying to see the creation of high-paying jobs in the clean energy sector," said Arkansas Governor, Mike Beebe. "In Arkansas, jobs in clean energy have grown at twice the rate of the overall job market, and Nordex is helping to drive that."
Additional jobs will be created through the contracting of services. For example, Nordex has hired the construction firm, H&M Company Inc. of Jackson, Tenn., which will dedicate between 250 and 300 workers to the construction project. In addition, Nordex aims to completely localize its suppliers within the next three to four years, as the wind industry matures, which will further stimulate domestic manufacturing.
"There's no doubt we've seen a surge of interest among wind industry players in Northeastern Arkansas since Nordex announced it would build here last October," said Mark Young, president and CEO of the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce, with whom Nordex has worked closely on site selection.
Because turbine manufacturing and assembly require specialized skills, Nordex is readying plans to train up a workforce through an on-site training academy, as well as a partnership with Arkansas State University.
"The wind industry is fairly young in the U.S., so we have to train people from the ground up," said Joe Brenner, vice president of production for Nordex USA. "Making turbines requires specialized skills. It's not just a $100 million facility. It's a new industry, and the most important resource we can put time and money into is our people."
For the state of Arkansas, Nordex believes wind power will play an increasingly significant role. "We want to demonstrate that wind is not only a job engine but also a viable energy source for Arkansas," said Sigrist. "We are confident that what makes environmental and, in particular, economic sense will gain broad acceptance among policy makers and constituents, and that a national Renewable Energy Standard will be adopted to steer energy policy in the right direction."
Large-scale leader
The Jonesboro operation will be an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) producing one of the largest classes of wind turbines in the world, the 2.5-megawatt N90 and N100. In the U.S., each of these utility-scale turbines is capable of generating enough renewable energy to power about 700 homes. Nordex was the first manufacturer to build a turbine this large in 2000 and has the longest track record for reliability in the class.
"In our business, experience means reliability, and reliability is everything for electricity," said Thomas Richterich, CEO of Nordex AG. "Quality is the main driver of our lightning growth of over 50 percent year over year."
About Nordex
With global headquarters in Germany, Nordex is one of the fastest growing wind turbine producers, operating in 18 countries and employing 2,200 people. There are currently 3,857 Nordex wind turbines rotating in 34 countries with a total rated output of more than 5,000 megawatts. In 2008, Nordex achieved over $1.5 billion in sales and produced the 1,000th turbine of the N80/N90 class.