Lost Creek Wind Farm Turbines Made in the USA
Farmers in DeKalb County, Mo., who depend on corn, soybeans and pasture land for their livelihoods will soon gain another source of income: annual payments from the Wind Capital Group, which is leasing space on their properties to create the largest wind farm in Missouri. Lost Creek Wind Farm will cover 32,000 acres and produce enough electricity to power 50,000 homes. The project will also create short-term construction jobs and ongoing operations jobs as well as infrastructure benefits for DeKalb County.
“During construction, we upgrade the local county roads,” said Dean Baumgardner, executive vice president of technical services and construction at Wind Capital Group. “We convert dirt roads into gravel roads and upgrade county bridges, so there are a lot of side benefits to these wind farms.”
“It really does make a significant impact on the local economy to have those jobs and leasing payments coming in,” said Joe Thomas, Missouri coordinator for the Apollo Alliance. “Even if some of the workers come from outside the local area, they will buy meals, stay in hotels, and go to the movies when they’re not at the job site. That’s got to make a difference for the rural towns that have this project nearby.”
The development of the Lost Creek Wind Farm has been in progress for more than two years, but the project made headlines in April when Vice President Joe Biden visited the factory that manufactures electric transformers for Lost Creek’s wind turbines. During the visit, the vice president announced that American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for smart grid technology and tax credits for renewable energy projects would help Lost Creek get the financing needed to keep the project moving forward.
ARRA extended the federal production tax credit, which otherwise would have expired, providing an incentive to construct wind energy projects in 2009 and 2010. It also created an option for renewable energy companies like Lost Creek Wind Farm to claim an investment tax credit cash grant in lieu of the production tax credit.
“The project was in risk back in January,” said Tom Carnahan, CEO of the Wind Capital Group, in an October 2009 interview with ClimateWire. “Luckily, the stimulus passed; that gave us the confidence to go forward and culminated actually last week with us securing a $240 million loan on the project.”
The $240 million in financing was secured at the end of October and includes a construction loan, term loan, and letter of credit facility.
While some U.S. wind projects are coming under fire because they plan to purchase foreign wind turbines – which means most of the manufacturing jobs associated with the projects will be located abroad – Lost Creek Wind Farm turbines are being manufactured in the United States.
“We don’t have an official policy, but it’s certainly our intention to try to get as much domestic content as possible,” said Baumgardner. “We’re using GE [General Electric] turbines, so most of the components are being produced here in the United States. Each wind turbine also has an electrical transformer, and those were all built at the ABB plant in Jefferson City.”
ABB employs approximately 475 union workers at its Jefferson City manufacturing facility. The workers are represented by United Auto Workers Local 2379, whose president, Gene Cobb, says the green economy has been good for ABB and its workers, who earn more than $17 an hour. “It’s sustained us and kept some people working who would normally be laid off,” Cobb said. “We also have new products being developed right now—all for green projects—and even some of our old products are being transformed. For example, we’re working on using biodegradable oil to cool the transformers.”
“I think we’ve had four or five auto plants shut down in Missouri over the past six years,” said Thomas of the Missouri Apollo Alliance. “So for the UAW to be getting these jobs is a victory and a good example of the transition of union workers from the industries that are not doing so well to the industries of tomorrow.”
In addition to the jobs at ABB, construction and operations jobs are being created by the Lost Creek Wind Farm. Right now, with construction underway, approximately 260 people are working at the Lost Creek Wind Farm site, doing jobs like upgrading local access roads and building the foundations that will support the wind turbines. Once the wind farm becomes operational in June 2010, 12 permanent operations workers will be employed on-site. This will be the first of its wind farms that the Wind Capital Group, which employs approximately 75 people, owns and operates.
Carnahan saw the potential for wind energy in Missouri five years ago and began developing wind farms in the state soon thereafter. The company’s first four Missouri wind farms were developed in partnership with John Deere Wind Energy, and the power was purchased by Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) out of Springfield, Mo. AECI will also purchase the power produced by the Lost Creek Wind Farm.
Baumgardner credits AECI with being forward-thinking in purchasing wind energy well before Missouri adopted a renewable energy standard. He said Wind Capital Group supports Missouri’s current Renewable Energy Standard (RES) – which requires 15 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2021 – and is urging Congress to enact a national RES.
Carnahan echoed these sentiments in his interview with ClimateWire: “As far as my business and from the perspective of the wind industry, we want to see a strong RES go forward, and that is the most important priority for us. If we have a strong RES, you will see quite a bit of investment into this space, new manufacturing, the jobs it creates, and new projects.”
