The company is siting a new assembly plant in Faribault, about 45 miles south of Minneapolis. The Midwest has a concentration of wind industry businesses, including turbine producers, component suppliers and operating wind farms.
The U.S. plant will employ about 100 workers, primarily working in assembly and testing.
Production will start at the end of the year, and the company expects the plant to be operating at full capacity beginning in early 2011.
The United States is one of the world's fastest growing wind power markets, with the annual installation of new capacity expected to double by 2010. Local production will further strengthen Moventas’ position in the U.S. market, according to the company.
The Finland-based company will also build a facility in its home country.
The site will concentrate on the production of ring gears, one of the main components in wind turbine gear units. The new production site will create around 200 jobs in Central Finland.
As in Minnesota, the company expects the Finland site to be at full capacity in early 2011.
With the new investments, Moventas’ production capacity will increase to 7,000 MW.
The annual wind energy market has been growing globally at a rate of roughly 30 percent. Moventas plans to capture an even bigger share of the market, the company said, by tripling its current production capacity by 2011.
“The decision to invest is a strong signal that we want to capture the growth of the business and meet customer demand,” said Ilkka Hakala, CEO and president of Moventas. “Expansion of production in North America is a significant step closer to our customers, and it strengthens our ability to meet the after-sales service demands in the market.”
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