Broadwind Energy formally dedicates new gearbox refurbishment operation
February 10, 2011
Even on the most blustery of days, the blades of a wind turbine spin slowly.
In many turbines, it takes gearbox machinery — roughly the size of a Smart car, though much heavier at 25,000 pounds or more — to change those slow rotations into a spinning shaft that turns fast enough to generate electricity.
If those gearboxes need repair, Broadwind Energy is hoping wind developers will ship their problems to Abilene.
The Illinois-based company formally dedicated its new gearbox repair and refurbishment facility Thursday, inviting business partners and potential customers to sit down for a catered barbecue lunch and to gaze at new $4 million testing equipment.
The facility is in the same 300,000-square-foot building that has housed the company's wind service operations since 2008: the former Lockheed Martin building on Wall Street.
"Wind energy is starting to get to a critical size," Broadwind President and CEO Pete Duprey told a crowd of about 80 people, explaining that growth in wind installations has created a need for strong service businesses. The company would manufacture gearbox parts as needed, and offer properly functioning gearboxes to swap out with companies while repairs are being made.
Many in the crowd were Broadwind employees, but some represented other businesses.
"This can be a possible gold mine for Broadwind," said John Hitt with AES Wind Generation. While some traveled from far away — one man said he came from the Philadelphia area — Hitt is based near Abilene, where he works as a purchasing administrator. AES Wind Generation operates nearly 300 wind turbines about 20 miles southwest of Abilene.
If there's a problem, "we would have to send it to Elgin, Ill.," incurring transport costs he'd like to avoid, he said. That repair facility (not associated with Broadwind) does not work on very many types of gearboxes, he added.
Denise Bode, chief executive officer for the American Wind Energy Association, told the crowd that the operation is "really a unique facility in the United States."
Broadwind has seen its stock price plummet over the past two years, however, with the company blaming a slowdown in wind industry growth for disappointing earnings statements.
So while the company's wind energy focus made its Wisconsin plant an attractive site for President Barack Obama to visit as he underscored his message about alternative energy jobs, Duprey talked about other work the company can do.
"Today, we're remanufacturing gearboxes for the wind energy business. But there's no reason why we couldn't remanufacture gearboxes for oil and gas, for mining. So, I think this is just the start," he said.
The Development Corporation of Abilene has more financial incentives tied up in Broadwind than any other pending contract with a business, according to DCOA documents.
Approximately $7.3 million in public funds may be given to Broadwind, depending on whether the company meets job-creation targets.
Some of that total is in the form of forgivable loans, like $700,000 for the gearbox operation. The amount represents 10 percent of Broadwind's approximately $7 million investment.
"For our gearbox location, we're going to be staffing up to a head count of around 20 during 2011," said Paul Seppanen, president of Broadwind Services, in an interview. "About half" that number already has been hired, he said. (On Feb. 1, the name of Energy Maintenance Service changed to Broadwind Services.)
Duprey told the crowd that "in this facility, we'll end up employing at it's full capacity 60 people."
Richard Burdine, chief executive officer for the DCOA, told the crowd: "You're here to celebrate another Broadwind investment in Abilene, this time $7 million and 60 jobs."
The company employed 98 full-time equivalent employees at its Tower Tech manufacturing facility in the 12-month period that ended Oct. 31 and 16 full-time equivalent employees in its service business during a 12-month period that ended March 31, according to DCOA records, below the targets set by the company and DCOA leaders when the businesses first moved to Abilene.
A shrink-wrapped gearbox ready for transport stood out in the 60,000-square-foot space, one of only a few gearboxes on the floor. The bare space around it showed the company had plenty of room to grow.
By Jaime Adame, Abilene Reporter-News
