Iron Workers Prove Experts at Building Wind Turbine Towers

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). With the rising price of fossil fuel-fired power generation and growing environmental concerns, renewable energy projects, such as wind power, are garnering an unprecedented level of development across the nation. In Illinois alone, there are 28 major wind farm projects, representing more than 4,800 megawatts of new capacity planned.

The Iron Workers Local 444, based out of Joliet, Illinois, was front and center as a wave of wind projects were developed over the past two years in Illinois. Capitalizing on project information from IMPACT Direct, a partnership between Industrial Info Resources and the International Ironworkers Union, Local 444 was able to get involved with wind projects at the early stages of development, establishing key relationships with project owners in order to better serve them. The attention to business development paid off with 50,000 man-hours of work for the ironworkers.

Starting with the Mendota Hills Wind Farm project, which was constructed in 2004, the ironworkers have proved themselves a valuable asset on wind turbine tower construction projects. Navitas Energy, Incorporated (Minneapolis, Minnesota) owns Mendota Hills and they utilized Davenport Marino, a subsidiary of Marino Crane (Middletown, Connecticut), to construct the 50-tower, 50-megawatt wind farm. A wind farm project of this size typically employs 40 ironworkers. As the tower sections arrive at the site they are unloaded and stored at a staging area until they are assembled. Ironworkers work in tandem with crane operators to assemble the 12 foot diameter by 40 foot tall sections of the towers, which can reach a height of 300 feet tall when fully assembled.

Click on the image at right to view a photo of tower assembly at the Crescent Right project. Photo Courtesy of White Construction.

The Mendota Hills Wind Farm was the first of the new wave of wind energy projects in the area where union ironworkers were used. Other projects followed shortly. The next job was the first phase of the Bureau County Crescent Ridge Wind Farm project. The ironworkers assisted White Construction (Clinton, Indiana), a 60-year old, heavy highway and industrial contractor, with the Crescent Ridge project. Buddy White, President for White Construction states, “The ironworkers did a great job on Crescent Ridge. Shortly after that job, we signed a national agreement with them to build wind turbines all over North America.” White Construction is sharing a tradeshow booth with the ironworkers at the upcoming WINDPOWER 2006 Conference & Exhibition being held June 4-7, 2006, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mr. White goes on to say, “We are pleased with the quality of work, and are working with them at their training center to put together an apprentice and journeymen training program specifically for wind project construction.”

Dan Aussem, Business Agent for Ironworkers Local 444, who helped spearhead the wind energy push from the beginning says, “The success of those two wind tower construction projects marked the start of a number of windfarm projects for us across the country and in Canada.” Mr. Aussem continues, “Success in today’s market is more that just showing up and doing the work, it involves preparation prior to the project, starting with good market research information, which Industrial Info and the ironworkers provide through IMPACT Direct. Having the right project contacts and information facilitates the development of strong relationships between project owners, developers, and contractors.”

The opportunities are lining up and the ironworkers are employing more people. The next two to three years are going to be very busy for the construction industry as a whole. It should result in many lucrative projects for the ironworkers, boilermakers, and pipefitters. In addition to wind power projects, there’s a growing number of coal, and ethanol projects on the books.

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