Ventower Plans for Eastern Plant that will Serve Offshore, Land-Based Wind Market

(GO BACK)

With its first plant slated to open this year in Michigan, Ventower Industries announced plans this week for a second manufacturing facility that will be located on the East Coast and will allow the tower company to tap the nascent offshore segment of the wind power industry.

The East Coast plant will be able to produce towers and foundations for both the offshore and land-based wind power markets. “With construction of our Monroe, Mich., facility well under way and scheduled to be operational during the second quarter of 2011, it is time to move forward with the process of identifying and selecting the site of our next manufacturing facility,” said Ventower Industries CEO Gregory Adanin. “The East Coast of the United States is an ideal location for Ventower 2 to expand our manufacturing and production capabilities. Both of our facilities will serve our customers in onshore as well as offshore applications using our advanced manufacturing techniques.”

Vice President Scott J. Viciana will take the lead in identifying and evaluating suitable locations. Meanwhile, Ventower will establish a sales-and-marketing office in Williamsburg, Va., so that it can be closer to wind development action on the East Coast, Viciana said. Speaking to Wind Energy Weekly, Viciana and Adanin said the process of identifying a location for the new plant will take about a year. Adanin and Viciana cited several factors in the company’s decision to pursue a second plant. Many states along the Eastern Seaboard have shown a commitment to offshore wind power, both in terms of committing to purchase offshore wind energy as well as wanting to attract companies that will provide the components for this somewhat unique industry segment. In addition, Adanin pointed to the movement toward offshore development as evidenced by the involvement of such “great American companies” as Google, which last fall joined with Trans-Elect, Good Energies and Marubeni Corp. in announcing plans for an ambitious offshore backbone transmission project running north-south along a multi-state stretch of the East Coast to transport electricity produced at offshore wind power projects.

As for when the second plant may be operational, Adanin said it will depend on such factors as progress
made by various offshore projects that have been proposed; however, he pointed out that because the facility will be able to produce towers for land-based projects, its construction is not entirely dependent on such progress. By using Ventower’s tower and production technology as well as its sourcing capabilities, “We’ll do the best we can to help the industry compete,” said Adanin.

http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2011/04/22/Plans-for-Monroe-factory-back-on-track-firm-says.html

(GO BACK)