Minnesota courts Vestas for windpower R&D facility, wind tower plant

Talking Points -- Vestas project worth a healthy investment of Morris’ energies

by Tom Larson, Morris Sun Tribune

In 2007, the Fibrominn plant went on line in Benson. It’s far too early to tell if it will be a success story in terms of producing energy by burning turkey litter and other biomass, but the prospects appear good.

The same type of story could be played out in Morris.

Not that the city needs success stories; there are plenty to be found around here, especially lately related to renewable energy. And it’s that reputation that should be used in an attempt to lure a world-wide renewable energy giant to our backyard.

The wind turbine design and manufacturing company Vestas has expanded to the U.S. with a blade making operation in Colorado, according to Peter Wenzel Kruse, Vice President of Group Communications for Vestas Wind Systems.

The company is seeking a location for a research and development facility, and also a venue for a plant to manufacture wind turbine towers.

A decision is “not imminent,” Kruse said, but Vestas expects to choose before the end of 2008. What drives that process?

“The No. 1 criteria is people,” Kruse said.

Morris’ skyline already sports a Vestas-made wind turbine – with a second turbine approved for construction once it can be acquired -- and the University of Minnesota, Morris and the West Central Research and Outreach Center is involved in burgeoning research into not only using wind power for electrical power but eventually producing storable hydrogen fuel via wind power.

Landing an R & D outfit and a large-scale manufacturing facility would make for some well-rounded economic development for these parts.

Vestas claims to be the world’s No. 1 supplier of “modern energy solutions.” The company installed its first wind turbine in 1979, and its staff, which numbered about 60 people in 1987, today numbers 14,500 people.

Vestas has wind turbines in 63 countries on five continents. As of last summer, it had produced 33,500 turbines and boasts that it’s making one turbine every five hours, 24 hours per day.

There’s no doubting that Vestas’ move into America is a potentially lucrative one. Vestas already has more than 9,000 wind turbines in the U.S., almost twice that of its other top buyers, Germany and Denmark. In terms of megawatts of electricity produced by Vestas turbines, the U.S. ranks second behind only Germany. Given its geographic size and recent reawakening to the advantages of wind energy, the U.S. is prime growth territory.

“Overall, we will increase our presence in the U.S. considerably in the coming years,” Kruse said.

And Morris could bring to reality its own Fibrominn story.

A little background on Fibrominn: A poultry farmer from the Litchfield area was looking for ways to use the litter produced by his operation. The litter is in demand now, but several years ago poultry producers were looking for ways to use a considerable excess.

The producer came upon Fibrowatt, founded in 2000 in Pennsylvania by a management team that built three turkey litter and biomass burners in the United Kingdom in the 1990s. His contact piqued Fibrowatt’s interest and the company began exploring building a plant in Minnesota. In addition to Benson, cities such as Willmar and Litchfield were considered.

That’s when Benson went to town, so to speak, selling itself to Fibrowatt, despite it being a new concept and relatively new technology in this country.

“People were probably more open to it because they saw the success of the ethanol plant (CVEC),” said Jan Lundebrek, president of First Security Bank in Benson and a significant booster behind both projects. “I think that set the groundwork for working with this (Fibrominn).”

Full article continues at: Potential Vestas Windpower project for Minnesota

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