Wind Energy

GLWN, BlueGreen Alliance to boost U.S. wind power manufacturing

AWEA is pleased to be a sponsor of an effort spearheaded by GLWN and the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation to increase the capability of small and medium-sized U.S. manufacturing companies to become part of the American wind turbines supply chain. Other sponsors include the United Steelworkers and the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

The new initiative will use a $560,000 grant to the BlueGreen Alliance Foundation from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

GLWN will work with four Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers (Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center, Indiana Purdue TAP, Montana MEP, and West Virginia MEP) to “develop a series of programs and services that will help accelerate the development and increase the capacity of domestic supply chains in the emerging wind energy industry,” according to a GLWN news release.

Commented GLWN Director Ed Weston, “We’ve been saying all along that the wind market is ‘tailor-made’ for U.S. heavy industry. With the right resources there are opportunities to manufacture turbine components as well as parts for wind-related infrastructure and logistics supply chains. The requisite skills and logistics demands of the industry favor local sources. We’re delighted to be part of this exciting project that help will bring the needed resources and technical knowledge to local manufacturers so they can successfully compete against already-established wind suppliers from other continents.”

By Tom Gray, www.awea.org/blog/