November 27, 2007 -- A Rhode Island company has announced plans to build a factory to make wind turbine blades, employing 500 workers over the next three years.
TPI Composites Inc., based in Warren, R.I., will begin construction next week on a 316,000-square-foot factory to make the blades for General Electric Energy's 15-megawatt wind turbines. GE Energy said it has 6,500 of the turbines installed and expects to have 10,000 operating around the world by the end of next year.
The companies said they have signed a long-term agreement for TPI to make the turbines at the new Newton plant.
"TPI has given Newton and Jasper County one great Christmas present," said Max Worthington, chairman of the Jasper County supervisors.
TPI chief executive Steven C. Lockard said the company's factory on 33 acres will make turbine blades that weigh up to 20,000 pounds and are up to 150 feet long.
The blades will be transported by truck to wind turbine sites within a 500- to 600-mile radius, Lockard said.
Newton's central location near growing wind turbine farms, its experienced work force left by the closed Maytag operations and state and local financial aid were the determining factors for choosing Newton.
TPI also has wind turbine factories in China and Mexico but blades from those locations could not be shipped economically to central U.S. states like Iowa, South Dakota or Oklahoma.
"This really is a unique opportunity for manufacturing jobs to be created here," Lockard said. "But because of transportation costs it's an opportunity for us to create some competitive U.S. factories that are serving a local region in the same way."
The factory jobs will pay a beginning wage of $12.25 an hour, Lockard said.
Workers are expected to begin by May or June of 2008, once the new factory building is completed.
The new business helps offset Whirlpool Corp.'s decision last year to eliminate 1,800 jobs at its former Maytag factory and corporate headquarters in Newton. Whirlpool bought Maytag last year and has been phasing out most of the jobs throughout this year.
Newton Mayor Chaz Allen said the community banded together after the Whirlpool decision to "take its destiny into its own hands.
"This is a new chapter in our community's future," he said.
Gov. Chet Culver said it is an example of the importance of partnerships, which he said has included local, state and federal governments and private industry.
He said he was proud of the resilience the people of Newton have shown.
"You have clearly been through a lot in the last couple of years and through it all you have shown great strength and character," Culver told residents on Monday. "So today is a new day, a hopeful day in Newton."
Former Maytag worker Robert Hughes, 55, said he'll likely apply for a job at TPI, but wishes the pay was better.
"I was making $12 an hour 17 years ago," he said.
Hughes lost his Maytag job a month ago after 21 years with the company. He said he'll have to work another 10 years before he can retire. He's applied for a job in Ames, but that would mean 12-hour days on top of a two-hour commute each day. The pay would be $14 an hour there, he said.
Hughes acknowledged the TPI jobs are good for the town that has seen unemployment surge.
"I'd like to see more money but I think it's good for the city," he said. "For the younger people, $12 an hour would be good for them."
Source: Associated Press Newswires
