Ingeteam picks Milwaukee for US wind, solar factory

Spanish renewable energy equipment maker Ingeteam says it will open its first US manufacturing plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, focusing on wind generators, converters and solar inverters.

Benjamin Romano

The company intends to invest $15m in the facility, which is scheduled to begin operations in January 2011. Ingeteam, based in Bilbao, says it will employ 275 people at the new plant by 2015.

In a statement, Ingeteam says Milwaukee was chosen for its central location, industrial base for sourcing materials, experienced electrical manufacturing workers, and well-regarded engineering departments at area universities.

The company had an existing operations and maintenance services office in the Milwaukee suburbs. Its other US presence is a California solar equipment sales office.

Ingeteam was awarded nearly $1.7m for the factory through the US Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit programme, one of 183 projects selected as part of the massive federal economic stimulus effort. Local officials also credited Wisconsin state tax incentives.

Ingeteam, which claims 12%-15% of the global wind power components market, intends to produce generators and converters for wind turbines ranging from 1.5 megawatts-5MW. It will also build solar power inverters from residential scale, 2.5 kilowatts, to 500kW utility scale equipment.

The company says it plans to eventually have annual capacity of 7.5 gigawatts at the Milwaukee plant. It also intends to add a system testing facility there.

Photo via Flickr.