N. DAKOTA WILL MAKE WIND

N.D. hires consultant to recruit wind business
Dale Wetzel, March 5, 2009 (AP via Jamestown Sun)

"A British consultancy has been hired to prospect for European companies willing to build wind turbines or supply parts for them in North Dakota…The seven-month, $28,000 contract with Deyton Bell Ltd., of Cambridge, England, is intended to develop business leads for North Dakota officials to follow up…

"Chris Parkhouse, Deyton Bell’s managing director, will be the state’s principal contact. Parkhouse visited North Dakota last December for briefings on the state’s wind energy industry and its general business selling points…"

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"North Dakota already has manufacturers that supply the industry. DMI Industries, of West Fargo, builds towers for wind turbines, while LM Glasfiber, a Danish company, operates a Grand Forks factory that makes turbine blades. DMI Industries is part of Otter Tail Corp. of Fergus Falls, Minn…it is a logical step for the state to recruit makers of the turbines themselves.

"As wind energy development grows in the United States, it makes more sense to make components here than to manufacture them in Europe and ship them to America…North Dakota also has manufacturers capable of making wind-turbine parts if the industry were to expand here…

"Acconia SA of Madrid, Spain, already operates wind power projects in the upper Great Plains. Its largest single wind farm, which is capable of generating 180 megawatts of power, is located in Dickey and McIntosh counties in south-central North Dakota, and McPherson County in South Dakota…Acconia also owns an 11.8-megawatt wind project near Velva, in north-central North Dakota…"