TPI Composites Wants To Expand New Wind Turbine Blade Plant

Newton, IA (AHN) - Wind turbine blade manufacturer TPI Composites won the support of the Newton City Council with approval of a $1 million loan to expand its new plant and add up to 300 jobs.

The new 316,000-square-foot production facility opened last month with 300 employees. The proposed expansion will add 120,000 square feet.

TPI had initially promised 500 jobs when it won approval to open a wind turbine blade plant. On Monday the City Council voted to approve the company's loan application with a waiver of the Iowa Values Fund minimum salary requirement.

Company officials asked for the waiver because they said the salary requirement had been skewed by including wages from a Maytag plant that closed. The new requirements allow TPI to pay a lower average wage of at least $13.95. With a benefit package of health, dental, life and a 401(k)) plan the total average wage would be $18.05.

City officials will present the proposal to the state at the Iowa department of Economic Development meeting on Thursday. State officials are already working on the full incentive package, which includes the $1 million forgivable loan from the state infrastructure assistance program.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based TPI built the plant to expand its capacity to produce high-capacity blades for General Electric's 1.5-megawatt wind turbines, company officials said in a statement. That type of wind turbines are among the most widely used in the world.

According to a statement on the company website, TPI builds large scale composite structures for the wind energy, military and mass transportation markets and serves customers from factories in the U.S., Mexico and China.

When the plant opened on Sept. 16, company officials had issued a statement putting the importance and impact of "green energy" into perspective.

"According to the American Wind Energy Association, the U.S. wind industry has raced past the 20,000-megawatt (MW) installed capacity milestone, achieving in two years what had previously taken more than two decades. (The 10,000-MW mark was reached in 2006). Wind now provides enough electricity to serve 5.3 million American homes or power a fleet of more than 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles" TPI officials wrote in a press release.

The wind power installed in the U.S. today can generate as much electricity every year as 28.7 million tons of coal or 90 million barrels of oil. Wind generation currently displaces 34 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to taking 5.8 million vehicles off the road. A U.S. Department of Energy study released in May found that wind could provide 20 percent of U.S. electricity by 2030. At that level, wind power would support 500,000 jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions equal to taking 140 million vehicles off the road."