Worthington Industries, Inc. (NYSE:WOR) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Gestamp Renewables group to create a 50-50 joint venture for wind turbine towers.
The joint venture, called Gestamp Worthington Wind Steel, LLC, will focus on producing towers for wind turbines being constructed in the North American market. The joint venture partners have identified 30 acres in Cheyenne, Wyo. as the site of the initial production facility.
The parties expect to sign an agreement in the next quarter and expect the facility will create 150 wind jobs when fully operational.
“This joint venture is the result of pursuing opportunities in the renewable energy field for the past nine months in a newly formed Worthington Energy Group,” John P. McConnell, Chairman and CEO of Worthington Industries said.
The joint venture anticipates beginning shipments of 80-100 foot long
tower sections for wind turbines in 1Q12. The proposed facility will
produce utility-scale towers for 2.0 to 3.0 MW wind turbines. Initial
plans call for production of over 300 towers per year. The joint venture
will generally serve as a subcontractor to manufacture the tower
structures for renewable energy companies which construct the wind tower
turbines. The plant will be built in the Cheyenne Logistics Hub,
which is near two major rail lines and the intersection of two
interstate highways.
“We have wind tower manufacturing facilities in Spain, Turkey, and Brazil, and are happy to be partnering with Worthington in our first North American facility,” said Jon Riberas, President and CEO of Gestamp Renewables.
Corporacion Gestamp is a Spanish industrial holding company, whose core businesses are industrial steel manufacturing services including metal components for the automotive industry, steel towers for the wind industry, and steel structural components for the solar industry.
Worthington Industries is a diversified metals manufacturing company with 2010 fiscal year sales of approximately $1.9 billion.
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