Wind Energy

Broadwind Energy to Supply Towers for Shady Oaks Wind Energy Project of Goldwind

Goldwind USA, a Chicago-based, fully owned auxiliary company of Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology, declared that it has chosen Broadwind Energy, a producer of multi-megawatt wind turbines, to provide around 70 wind turbine towers required for its Lee County, Illinois, located Shady Oaks wind power project. The wind tower installations are set to commence in the second half of the year 2011.

According to Tim Rosenzweig, Goldwind USA’s chief executive officer, while closeness to the project location and the capability to create openings for the local wind industry played a reasonable role in the choice of Broadwind Energy, the important elements such as its established manufacturing record for such volume production enabled the company to choose Broadwind for the project as its tower partner.

Broadwind happened to be the first company to produce turbine towers of 100 meter height. It utilizes its indigenous steel fabrication technology to manufacture tall turbine towers to access maximum wind energy. The company has so far produced around 800 wind turbine towers.

LM Wind Power will deliver between 70 to 75 sets of its wind turbine blades to Goldwind USA as part of Goldwind USA’s procurement for various projects, including the Shady Oaks project in Lee County, Ill.

The blades, which will be installed on Goldwind 1.5 MW permanent magnet direct-drive wind turbines (PMDD) as part of the Shady Oaks wind farm, will be supplied from LM’s facility in Grand Forks, N.D.

Goldwind, through its subsidiary Tianrun, was selected by the Illinois Power Agency (IPA) to provide energy from the Shady Oaks wind project. Goldwind will provide the power to ComEd through a 20-year power purchase agreement as part of the IPA’s long-term procurement plan. The project will feature between 70 and 75 Goldwind PMDD turbines and marks the company’s entry into utility-scale projects in the Americas.

In January, LM had announced that it was laying off 150 workers at its Grand Forks plant. This order will allow the company to retain between 60 and 80 manufacturing jobs at the facility, according to the company.

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