Wind turbine plant could bring 335 jobs to Fort Smith

Ivy Owen is hopeful the third visit from officials with a company based in Japan will indeed be the charm and result in bringing more than 300 new manufacturing jobs to the area.

Owen, executive director of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, said five “high-level officials” from Japan will be in Fort Smith April 10 to “see first-hand the site we have proposed for this project” and to hear state officials verify that federal stimulus money will be spent on the section of Interstate 49 near the proposed project site.

‘CEREMONIOUS’ EVENT
At the request of the Japanese business delegation, Gov. Mike Beebe is scheduled to attend the April 10 visit, Owen said.

“We think it’s a ceremonious-type event,” Owen said. “We just don’t know what the end result of this trip will be. All the signs are positive. … And, personally, I don’t think they’d be coming back here and asking for the governor if it was a bad thing.”

“Project Lightning” has been the code name used by Owen and officials with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission during their efforts to lure the Japanese company that manufactures wind turbines for the wind energy sector.

Owen said the company would employ up to 335 in a 300,000-square-foot building. The capital investment would near $80 million, Owen said.

The size of the project is similar to that of the Mars Petcare plant ($80 million project with 260,000-square-foot plant) under construction at Fort Chaffee. Also similar will be property lines if the wind-turbine plant lands at Chaffee. Owen said the Project Lightning sight is on the south side of the Mars Petcare plant.

Owen said he is not concerned that releasing details on the project or the April 10 visit will jeopardize the project. In economic development circles, Japanese companies are known for their requirement that all parties involved maintain a strict adherence to secrecy.

“They (officials with the Japanese company) know that Project Lightning is out there,” Owen said. “The only thing I can’t do is make the name of the company public.”

PROJECT POSSIBILITIES
A reasonable guess would be Mitsubishi.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries — its U.S. division known as Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas — is the most high-profile wind-energy component manufacturing company based in Japan. The company has built 4,439 turbine units of various sizes, with 2,183 of those for the U.S. market, and 1,890 for India.

An April 2008 report in National Wind Watch noted: “Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the largest domestic manufacturer of wind turbines, also is targeting international markets, with U.S. sales far outstripping its business in Japan. In May, the company received orders for 1.36 gigawatts worth of wind turbines from five U.S. companies, including Eurus Energy’s U.S. subsidiary, Eurus Energy America, to be completed by 2009. That is nearly equal to Japan’s total installed wind capacity of 1.49 gigawatts.”

Other wind energy companies based in Japan include Calpan Co. Ltd., Panasonic Renewable Energy, GH Craft Ltd., and Loopwing.

STIFF COMPETITION
The City Wire was previously told that Fort Smith was in competition with Lubbock, Texas, for the Project Lightning company. If the April 10 visit results in a positive announcement for Fort Smith, it will be a significant victory considering the research resources of Texas Tech University.

The university, based in Lubbock, is home to the Wind Science & Engineering Research Center (WISE). According to the university’s Web site, WISE faculty and students conduct “advanced and innovative multidisciplinary research to mitigate the deleterious effects of windstorms on the built environment, people, and the quality of life, and to utilize the beneficial effects of wind.” Part of that research is conducted at the Great Plains Wind Power Test Facility on a 67-acre site located 8 miles from the Texas Tech campus.

Annual wind power globally is expected to rise to 551 gigawatts in 2030, up from 74 gigawatts in 2006, according to World Energy Outlook.