1/12/2010
Cheap foreign labor and other obstacles temper the opportunity for local firms.
By TUX TURKEL, Staff Writer January 12, 2010
The giant wind turbines spinning in Maine and around the world feature blades more than 100 feet long, made from a composite material that can include fiberglass, wood and resin. But meeting quality specifications is getting harder, as blades get bigger to pull more kilowatts out of the breeze, says Ken Priest, president of Kenway Corp. in Augusta.
That's why Priest is excited about the proprietary technology his fiberglass fabrication company is developing. He sees a business opportunity, with thousands of blades expected to be built in the coming decade.
Priest's company will be represented at a wind energy seminar kicking off this morning at the Clarion Hotel in Portland. The three-day event aims to help the state's composites businesses, which include boat builders and fabrication firms, position themselves to take advantage of a projected surge in wind-energy development.
The free seminar, funded by the federal government, has attracted a lot of interest: A waiting list filled quickly after the 150-seat registration closed, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, will be giving today's keynote address.
Beyond education and encouragement, participants also may get a reality check.
Large-scale wind energy depends on government policies and subsidies, and is subject to global competition from countries that benefit from low labor costs. Maine's best bet may be to focus on innovation, automation and niche markets, organizers say.
Wind energy makes up only 2 percent of the nation's electricity supply, but annual capacity has grown rapidly. While the industry suffered a setback last year during the economic downturn, companies are now banking on federal stimulus money – and the likelihood that Congress will enact a law requiring utilities to buy renewable power – to boost domestic demand and create jobs producing the thousands of components that go into each wind turbine.
Blades are the most obvious component. All of the turbine blades that have come into Maine so far have been manufactured overseas.
"People ask themselves, why can't we make them in Maine?" said Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine, one the seminar sponsors.
Maine is a small market for turbine blades. But if the state sticks to its ambitious goals for developing land-based wind power over the next decade, Dagher figures, it will need $700 million worth of blades. And if offshore wind farms are developed, there will be demand not just for blades, but floating structures, maintenance vessels and nacelles, which house the generating equipment. All of these can be built from composites, which are lighter than metal and don't rust.
This potential is appealing to Maine's historic boat-building industry, which has been looking for ways to stay busy in a poor economy and diversify for the future. At Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding in Thomaston, work is under way on an experimental wind-blade model for an out-of-state company.
"Anyone who has a new idea, we can build a prototype and test it for them," said J.B. Turner, Lyman-Morse's president.
Turner said he first looked at the potential to build blades at the boat yard, but was put off by the low-wage competition from China, India and Brazil. It may make more sense, he said, to repair blades already installed in the region, and to use automation to make components for less money.
"Technology's going to be the key to overcoming the low labor rates," he said.
Bringing semi-automation to blade construction is one of the research and development efforts at the University of Maine. The school's composites center got an additional boost last week – a $12.4 million federal grant for a new laboratory to help test and manufacture advanced wood composites for offshore wind projects. The work is strongly supported by Maine's congressional delegation, notably Collins.
Maine should try to form partnerships with existing wind-turbine manufacturers to set up operations in the state, said Stephen Von Vogt, executive director of the Maine Composites Alliance, another seminar sponsor. Some of the speakers at the seminar have experience setting up these partnerships, he said.
Much of the domestic industry has been focused on the Midwest and Western states, he said. Maine's location, and its heavy-industry contractors, deepwater ports and composites firms, put it in a good position to capitalize on large wind farms planned along the Eastern Seaboard in the next decade.
"The next big resource that will be developed is on the East Coast and Atlantic Canada," he said.
Staff Writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or tturkel@pressherald.com
Copyright © 2010 MaineToday Media, Inc.
Portland Press Herald: Maine Wind Forum to Provide Guidance, Dose of Reality
For more information visit: pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=308508&ac=PHnwsCheap foreign labor and other obstacles temper the opportunity for local firms.
By TUX TURKEL, Staff Writer January 12, 2010
The giant wind turbines spinning in Maine and around the world feature blades more than 100 feet long, made from a composite material that can include fiberglass, wood and resin. But meeting quality specifications is getting harder, as blades get bigger to pull more kilowatts out of the breeze, says Ken Priest, president of Kenway Corp. in Augusta.
That's why Priest is excited about the proprietary technology his fiberglass fabrication company is developing. He sees a business opportunity, with thousands of blades expected to be built in the coming decade.
Priest's company will be represented at a wind energy seminar kicking off this morning at the Clarion Hotel in Portland. The three-day event aims to help the state's composites businesses, which include boat builders and fabrication firms, position themselves to take advantage of a projected surge in wind-energy development.
The free seminar, funded by the federal government, has attracted a lot of interest: A waiting list filled quickly after the 150-seat registration closed, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, will be giving today's keynote address.
Beyond education and encouragement, participants also may get a reality check.
Large-scale wind energy depends on government policies and subsidies, and is subject to global competition from countries that benefit from low labor costs. Maine's best bet may be to focus on innovation, automation and niche markets, organizers say.
Wind energy makes up only 2 percent of the nation's electricity supply, but annual capacity has grown rapidly. While the industry suffered a setback last year during the economic downturn, companies are now banking on federal stimulus money – and the likelihood that Congress will enact a law requiring utilities to buy renewable power – to boost domestic demand and create jobs producing the thousands of components that go into each wind turbine.
Blades are the most obvious component. All of the turbine blades that have come into Maine so far have been manufactured overseas.
"People ask themselves, why can't we make them in Maine?" said Habib Dagher, director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine, one the seminar sponsors.
Maine is a small market for turbine blades. But if the state sticks to its ambitious goals for developing land-based wind power over the next decade, Dagher figures, it will need $700 million worth of blades. And if offshore wind farms are developed, there will be demand not just for blades, but floating structures, maintenance vessels and nacelles, which house the generating equipment. All of these can be built from composites, which are lighter than metal and don't rust.
This potential is appealing to Maine's historic boat-building industry, which has been looking for ways to stay busy in a poor economy and diversify for the future. At Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding in Thomaston, work is under way on an experimental wind-blade model for an out-of-state company.
"Anyone who has a new idea, we can build a prototype and test it for them," said J.B. Turner, Lyman-Morse's president.
Turner said he first looked at the potential to build blades at the boat yard, but was put off by the low-wage competition from China, India and Brazil. It may make more sense, he said, to repair blades already installed in the region, and to use automation to make components for less money.
"Technology's going to be the key to overcoming the low labor rates," he said.
Bringing semi-automation to blade construction is one of the research and development efforts at the University of Maine. The school's composites center got an additional boost last week – a $12.4 million federal grant for a new laboratory to help test and manufacture advanced wood composites for offshore wind projects. The work is strongly supported by Maine's congressional delegation, notably Collins.
Maine should try to form partnerships with existing wind-turbine manufacturers to set up operations in the state, said Stephen Von Vogt, executive director of the Maine Composites Alliance, another seminar sponsor. Some of the speakers at the seminar have experience setting up these partnerships, he said.
Much of the domestic industry has been focused on the Midwest and Western states, he said. Maine's location, and its heavy-industry contractors, deepwater ports and composites firms, put it in a good position to capitalize on large wind farms planned along the Eastern Seaboard in the next decade.
"The next big resource that will be developed is on the East Coast and Atlantic Canada," he said.
Staff Writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or tturkel@pressherald.com
Copyright © 2010 MaineToday Media, Inc.
Steve Von Vogt, Executive Director
Maine Composites Alliance
P.O. Box 129
Portland, ME 04112
svonvogt@mainecompositesalliance.org
(207) 828-1414
