Local wind power plant getting more money

THE MONROE EVENING NEWS, JULY 8, 2010

Local wind power plant getting more money

â–  A federal grant and state loan have been added to the $9 million in aid already committed to developing a wind turbine tower factory.

BY CHARLES SLAT

Snaring federal funds ap¬pears to be a breeze for Ven¬tower Industries, which won a $2.3 million federal grant to help it develop a factory at the Port of Monroe to make wind turbine towers.

U.S. Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Dearborn, announced the additional funds Wednesday as well as a $1.2 million loan from the Michigan’s Clean Energy Advanced Manufac¬turing Program.

Rep. Dingell said the ad¬ditional resources for the fledgling firm are cause for celebration because it will mean “high-paying ‘green’ jobs right here in Monroe.”

The company already is getting a raft of federal and state tax credits and loans to subsidize its project on 38 acres of port property east of I-75 and south of E. Front St. Site preparation is under way and the project is ex¬pected to be completed next year, employing at least 140 directly and 30 indirectly in its first phase.

A fat yellow earthmover was leveling the 38-acre site Wednes¬day to make way for a 115,000-square-foot plant.

It has been putting togeth¬er its plans and a financing package over the past year and already has been autho¬rized for $4.4 million in tax credits from the Michigan

Economic Growth Author-i¬ty, captured a $4 million Small Business Association loan, a $2 million brown¬field reclamation loan, a $2.5 million federal advanced¬energy manufacturing tax credit, a $3.7 million state employment credit and a $5.8 million brownfield rede¬velopment credit.

The plant project is esti¬mated to cost between $19 million and $22 million.

James Viciana, Ventower chairman, said the company planned to make towers for both onshore and offshore wind turbines and foreign and domestic companies. The port’s access to water, rail and land transportation and availability of skilled workers led it to choose Mon¬roe over other locations in other states, he said.

He predicted that the cur¬rent construction is just the first phase. “There is a phase two. It will increase the size of the plant and increase employment here in Monroe and phase two will deter¬mine exactly where on the world stage of this business Ventower will be,” he said. “Ventower is a small part of a growing phenomenon that’s going to transform business in the area.” The second phase could mean a 76,000-square-foot expansion. He said a $2 million brown¬field loan and a $4 million Small Business Administra¬tion loan were keys to the project. “We know exactly how we’re going to repay those loans,” he added.

Monroe County Communi¬ty College will provide some of the training for workers to be hired by the company and company officials said they hoped the factory also would serve as a real-world class¬room for community college students.

Company officials said pre¬viously that many of the jobs that would be available would require some welding skills. MCCC recently started a Welding Center of Expertise to broaden its existing weld¬ing program.

Mr. Viciana said he didn’t know what the average wage rate might be for the factory, but said it would be above average for the skill levels re¬quired of employees.

The company isn’t taking applications yet. Mr. Viciana and Gregory Adanin, presi¬dent, presently are the only two employees on payroll, and there are three contract workers, Mr. Adanin said.

He said the firm also has letters of intent from vari¬ous wind-turbine manufac¬turers who want prototypes of the towers the factory will produce. The first towers the plant produces would go to those companies. The plant will have capacity to make 150 to 300 towers annually.

Mr. Adanin said DeMat¬tia Group of Plymouth is the construction engineer¬ing firm, but he declined to name the general contractor on the job because an agree¬ment hasn’t been signed with the firm yet. C. Mus¬son Construction of Monroe Township was doing the site preparation work.

Terri Novak of the Michi¬gan Department of Labor and Economic Growth said the plant would “help expe¬dite expansion of renewable energy, reduce our depen¬dence on foreign oil, and re¬duce greenhouse gases.”

And Monroe Mayor Robert E. Clark said the news of the additional funding was “an¬other great step forward, not only for Ventower Industries, but for the City of Monroe.”