Ingeteam, a Spanish company that specializes in highly engineered electrical and electronic equipment and services, will construct a $15 million facility in Milwaukee to manufacture equipment for renewable energy projects.
Ingeteam, headquartered in Bilbao, Spain, said it will begin construction of the 100,000-square-foot combined production facility and office complex in April, with completion set for December. The company expects to begin manufacturing operations in January 2011 and will employ about 275 workers by 2015.
This will be Ingeteam's first manufacturing facility in the United States.
When completed, the plant will focus primarily on the renewable energy industry, producing Indar wind power generators and Ingeteam converters and solar power inverters for the North American market.
"After carefully analyzing our company's needs, we selected Milwaukee for our new production facility because the city is conveniently located for distribution of our products and has a solid industrial base from which Ingeteam can source materials," said Ander Gandiaga, Ingeteam's corporate director for international development.
"Milwaukee also has a labor pool experienced in electrical manufacturing. In addition, the area boasts prestigious universities with some of the highest-ranked engineering departments in the country that offer specific courses in renewable energy, which will be very useful when it comes to finding specialized staff," said Aitor Sotes, chief executive officer of Ingeteam Inc., Ingeteam's subsidiary in the United States.
He also pointed out that City of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin officials "made an impressive effort to sell Ingeteam on the virtues of locating in this community."
"The Ingeteam project perfectly fits the model of the clean energy economy and job creation goals that the city and state are pursuing," he said.
Ingeteam already has an office in suburban Milwaukee that has provided operations management and maintenance services for United States wind turbine farms since 2008. In addition, Ingeteam has a sales office in Santa Clara, Calif., that supplies the market for solar inverters.
Ingeteam currently has a 12 -15 percent worldwide market share of wind power components. However, Ingeteam has identified the United States as a growth market for wind energy and expects its global market share to rise by having a U.S.-based manufacturing operation to supply the North American market. At full capacity, the Milwaukee plant will supply equipment capable of producing 7,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity each year.
The Milwaukee plant will produce generators and converters for 1.5 MW to 5 MW wind turbines, and solar power inverters that range from 2.5 kilowatt (kW) units for residential use up to 500 kW units for utility-scale installations. Later, Ingeteam plans to add a facility for system testing.
In addition, the new plant is expected to produce motors, generators and converters for the other markets in which the company is active - railway, marine, combined heat and power generation, hydraulic equipment and the iron and steel industry.
Finally, the new facility will also provide better access to North American markets for Indar Maquinas Hidraulicas (Indar MH), an Ingeteam company that designs and manufactures large submersible pumps. Indar MH has been very active commercially in the United States market since 2003.
About Ingeteam
Ingeteam Inc., headquartered in Bilbao, Spain, is a business group specializing in electrical engineering and the development of electronic technology for the energy, industry, marine and railway sectors. Its brands include Ingeteam, Indar, and Pine. Ingeteam companies provide custom turnkey engineering and installation solutions, and manufacture electric machines, and electronic control and power equipment.
Ingeteam is made up of 28 companies with more than 3,500 employees and locations on four continents – Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Ingeteam's focus on research, development and innovation has created high-value products that successfully meet the specific needs of customers worldwide. In 2009, Ingeteam allocated more than three percent of its total sales revenue to research, development and innovation activities.
