AWEA - Arkansas governor shows passion for wind at AWEA Supply Chain Workshop

Echoing the points that wind power advocates have been trumpeting recently, Governor Mike Beebe (D) said that tapping renewables here in the U.S. is not only good for the environment, it creates jobs and strengthens national security. “If somebody doesn’t respond to one of those three things, I don’t think they’re human,” he told workshop participants.

The latest in a series of manufacturing and supply chain workshops presented by AWEA continued a string of successful events that highlight the manufacturing and supply chain opportunities (and challenges) in the wind energy industry. The nearly 300 attendees heard presentations from a wide range of major companies already in the wind energy industry, including Nordex, Suzlon, LM Wind Power, GE Energy, Siemens, Gamesa, and Mitsubishi. A number of presentations featured other component suppliers and local manufacturers in Arkansas and nearby states.

A highlight was the opening Keynote Address by Beebe, who gave a rousing kickoff to the event by spotlighting the successes he has helped bring to the state of Arkansas—not only the major manufacturing facilities that have been located there by LM Wind Power, Nordex, and Mitsubishi, but also the number of lower-tier suppliers that are bringing jobs to his state to support those major component manufacturing facilities. Citing wind’s multiple economic and security benefits, the governor called on participants to contact their members of Congress and urge them to establish stable, long-term policies that would allow the wind energy industry to attract investment and grow.

Transportation and Logistics was a key focus on the workshop in the afternoon, building on the success of the first-ever “AWEA Transportation & Logistics Summit” held the previous day (see accompanying story).

Program note: Next up on the supply-chain event schedule is the WINDPOWER 2011 Conference & Exhibition in May. Both the AWEA Manufacturing Working Group and the AWEA Transportation & Logistics Working Group will be meeting in Anaheim to further their efforts on their respective areas of focus. In addition, new this year, AWEA will be organizing a special “Supply Chain Networking Session” at WINDPOWER for AWEA business member companies involved in the manufacturing, supply chain, and transportation & logistical areas of the wind energy industry. For more information on the two working group meetings or the networking session at WINDPOWER 2011, please send an e-mail to manufacturing@awea.org.

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