Sen. Reid helps win wind turbine plant for Nevada

Nevada is about to become home to one very large wind turbine plant.

A-Power Energy, U.S. Renewable Energy Group, and American Nevada Group announced Thursday a joint project to build a mega-factory in Nevada for producing wind turbines.

The factory will produce and assemble advanced wind energy turbines for supplying wind projects in North and South America, producing an estimated 1,110-megawatts worth of turbines per year.

The 320,000-square-foot facility when completed will ultimately employ over 1,000 people, in addition to the temporary jobs its development and construction will immediately create.

Apparently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was instrumental in convincing the China-based wind turbine producer A-Power to put a plant in his home state.

"Senate Majority Leader Reid's vision for the development of clean energy industries in his home state, Nevada's position relative to the major wind corridors, and the strength and sophistication of Nevada's skilled workforce made Nevada the best option for our headquarters and assembly plant for North and South America," Jinxiang Lu, CEO and chairman of A-Power, said in a statement.

The project's leading investor, U.S. Renewable Energy, also credited Reid's lobbying efforts for landing the project in Nevada.

"He told us that Nevada was poised to be at the epicenter of America's commitment to renewable energy technology. With a strong commitment to renewable energy and business-friendly climate, we felt that Nevada would be the ideal place to invest in this manufacturing hub," Ed Cunningham, managing partner at U.S. Renewable Energy, said in a statement.

It's certainly clear why Sen. Reid proposed a bill to reform oversight of electric transmission lines across the U.S. in February 2009. In addition to providing a solution to an obvious logjam in deploying renewable energy across the country, such a law would clearly help his own home state as it becomes more and more invested in the renewable-energy industry.

An exact location for the facility within Nevada has not yet been chosen.

[Fyzzle]

Maybe it's just time to sign over control of the US to China. They own about half anyways.

[monkeyfun14]

Maybe its about time to shut up with this the sky is falling paranoia?

[iptofar]

5 bucks says the deal falls through. Ried will likely be a lame duck and they won't be able to count on him throwing our money into the "investment".

[USDecliningDollar]

Vestas has 3 plants in Colorado - at least one of which is sitting idle. They have had no orders since late 2008.

[yak2roger]

Couldn't this DEMORAT find an American company to produce wind turbines?
We pour billions into the space program and GIVE AWAY the technology, and then we
hire a COMMUNIST company to come to Nevada to build wind turbines!
I guess AmeriKans are just too dumb to build wind turbines.
This Harry Reid has GOT TO GO!!! Vote this nit-wit OUT!

[doubtthat]

Also in the news, Nevada residents see their electric bills increase by 50% or more.

[gggg sssss]

did no one tell him that global warming is a fraud? p*ssing money down the drain to China is an even bigger fraud on the US taxpayer? And that the raw material and all of the parts will be made in china in coal fired powered steel mills anyway?

its scary that on tech news site there is so much stupid talk. Wind turbines have to do with ever more expensive fuel sources much more than global climate change, and as Galileo is reported to have said it still moves.

[rosiewy]

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Plant Wind Turbine Group, a woman owned disadvantaged medium to large wind turbine manufacturer located in Colorado.
We are a US corporation seeking opportunities in the greenfield, retrofit, community wind, and our new wind-hydro assemblies. We have contacted different funding avenues but we have found very little opportunities through grant and venture capital funding due to the economy and worldwide recession. I hope taking this opportunity to introduce you to Plant Wind Turbine Group that you may be able to give me some guidance on getting an article on my company and shed some light on grant or funding opportunity to this woman owned business.

Our patents were issued November 2009 and we are now seeking opportunities for prototype into production assemblies for worldwide distribution

Best regards,

Mary Levant- Plant, President
Plant Wind Turbine Group
[phone]
[e-mail]

[holyhope]

If this is just to build blades and towers it is rediculous, as the generator heads with the actual generator are what is needed built here, not the lower technology parts. And it needs built without gearboxs unlike GE, to require less maintenence, and old technology. Dumbing down, dumbing down, lower & lower we go. We can't even build a million volt line coast to coast to keep our generation costs down. Rediculous on top of rediculous.

[ekhlypse]

Thank You for responding to my email regarding my company, Plant Wind Turbine Group located in Colorado. PWTG does not produce towers or blades but we are an OEM manufacturer of fluid drive technology that produces 2 to 3 times the output of existing wind turbine assemblies. Plant Wind Turbine Group is the only existing wind turbine company worldwide with the technology to retrofit existing wind turbine assemblies in 6-8 weeks that are either decommissioned due to low Kilowatt output or obsolete due to repair costs or unavailable repair parts. This will help U.S. Power Utility Companies to meet their requirement for 20% renewable by the year 2020 and 30% by the year 2030, except for California's requirement of 33% by 2030 for approximately 55% of the cost of a new wind turbine assembly utilizing their existing tower and blade assemblies.. Our assemblies utilizes a newly patented hydrostatic drive that allow our Freedom Series Wind Turbine to start producing power in 6mph wind speeds compared to our competitors 18-25mph and stay on line longer with wind speeds in the excess of 75mph compared to everyone else who are required to lock theirs blades at 35-40mph to eliminate disintegration of their assemblies. By our wind turbine assemblies being fluid driven, all of our major components are placed at ground level which eliminates about 90% of the weight and vibration from the nacelle to the ground, Our system incorporates the use of 4 -5 generation units mounted at ground level versus the competitors single direct drive system mounted 200-300 feet in the air, thus reducing the need for technicians climbing in extremely high areas for maintenance and repair issues. Running multiple generation units per tower allows PWTG to produce energy even if there is a major failure in one of generation units.

If you have any further questions or would like to speak with me directly, please contact me at 303-375-7821 or email [e-mail].

Best regards,

Mary Levant-Plant
President
Plant WInd Turbine Group

[JimPratt3]

These end up costing more than the energy they produce. The technology isn't there yet.