Why Not Ohio? Wisconsin To Get Another Wind Farm

[Dan Moadus]

Perhaps Dennis can explain this sentence from the article he pasted, "The subsidiary's revenue in the quarter halved to around $17.3 million, with a $2.2 million profit seen in the same period in 2009 dipping to a $300,000 operating loss thanks to a 36% decline in production and lower steel prices." How does a company that makes towers for turbines experience lower profits because of lower steel prices?

[irishbobcat]

Wisconsin To Get Another Wind Farm

Wind manufacturing and service company Broadwind Energy is to provide towers for a 90-turbine wind farm being developed in Wisconsin.
The Illinois-based company revealed yesterday that its Wisconsin-based subsidiary Tower Tech Systems will supply the Glacier Hills Wind Park project in the towns of Randolph and Scott in Columbia County.

The wind farm is being developed by utility WE Energies, with design and construction services provided by a local partnership between The Boldt Company of Appleton, Michels Corporation of Brownsville and Edgerton Contractors, Inc. of Oak Creek.

Construction on the wind farm began back in May 2010, with expectations of the turbines being installed "in the very near future".

Tower Tech's contract is with the project's wind turbine manufacturer Vestas, which is supplying 1.8-megawatt turbines for the project, which should generate enough power to supply 45,000 homes with electricity.

The contract comes after a significant increase to the company's workforce in Manitowoc and at Abilene, Texas, to support expectations of increased sales during the next several quarters.

Bjarne Hansen, president of Vestas Towers, said: "Broadwind is the strategic supply partner to Vestas and with its new and upgraded facilities, it made the selection of Tower Tech as the supplier to the WE Energies project very natural."

"Challenging"
Jess Collins, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Broadwind, stated: "In this challenging economy, we are pleased to have added a number of jobs at our Manitowoc, Wisconsin, wind tower plant. With this order plus other business booked during November, Broadwind has increased its backlog to approximately $245 million, which is approximately 17% above the September 30, 2010 backlog."

Tower Tech specializes in towers for large wind turbines up to 2MW in scale, but has suffered with the current decline in the US wind industry despite expectations of new contracts in the next several months.

Earlier this month, Broadwind reported that the subsidiary had seen 271 MW of production in the first three quarters of this year, including 132MW in the third quarter up to the end of September.

The subsidiary's revenue in the quarter halved to around $17.3 million, with a $2.2 million profit seen in the same period in 2009 dipping to a $300,000 operating loss thanks to a 36% decline in production and lower steel prices.

Production is expected to increase in the remaining months of the year to reach a 500MW total for 2010.