Table of Contents

GLWN Member Visits White House

CanWEA Conference Report

Cast-Fab: Solutions for the Wind Industry

A New Tool for GLWN: WINDAlert

What's in the Wind!
GLWN Calendar of Events

Wind Supply Chain Workshop
October 5, 2009
Topeka, KS

Kansas Wind & Renewable Energy Conference '09
October 6, 2009
Topeka, KS

NTMA 2009 Fall Conference
October 9-10, 2009
Indianapolis, IN

Wind Supply Chain Workshop
October 15, 2009
Oklahoma City, OK

Wind Supply Chain Workshop
October 22, 2009
Macomb, IL

AWEA Small and Community Wind Conference & Exhibition
November 3-5, 2009
Detroit, MI

Wind Supply Chain Workshop
November 10, 2009
Rochester, NY

AWEA 2009 Fall Symposium
November 18-20, 2009
Orlando, FL

An Inside View on Federal Support to Wind:
Cardinal Fastener at the White House

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu hosted leaders of the wind industry to learn the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on business conditions. Included were wind farm developers, wind turbine OEMs, Vestas, GE Energy, and Gamesa, and component manufacturer Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co., Inc., a member of Great Lakes WIND Network. President John Grabner represented Cardinal Fastener and shared these insights with GLWN:

At the meeting, Secretaries Geithner and Chu announced $550 million in new awards through the Act's 1603 Program. This program provides cash assistance to energy producers in place of tax credits--specifically 30 percent of the qualifying cost of the project. This announcement brought the total of U.S. Treasury checks paid out for wind farm development to over $1 billion this year.

Reactions were very positive, especially from the developers. They reported that checks are being received in sixty days after applications have been made, and this is achieving the "speed and scale" that has been a goal of the program. One developer described how this incentive program caused his company to bypass new business activities in four other countries in favor of additional expansion in the U.S.

The wind turbine OEMs were encouraged by the response of the developers. From a components perspective, I believe that most of us are still waiting for the impact on factory new orders.

Everyone stressed the need for long-term solutions to avoid the historical bubble and burst in the U.S. wind industry. A national renewable energy standard (RES) is the solution of choice, and a version stronger than is currently being debated was recommended.

It was also agreed that the 1703 Loan Guarantee Program, while a good idea, is way too cumbersome and complicated to stimulate new investment. We were told that work is now underway to reduce the red tape to access the guarantee.

I was pleased to see how well the Secretaries worked together. I am told that in Washington you don't always see this level of cooperation in government.

From a personal standpoint, I was delighted that Secretary Chu requested a tower bolt sample from our company. He flew to New York City that afternoon to speak at the United Nations on Wednesday morning and planned to use it as a prop when addressing the Assembly on the topic of Climate Change and Renewable Energy for job growth.

CanWEA Attracts Top OEMs: Conference Report

Judging from the presence of ten utility and commercial wind turbine OEMs who exhibited at the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Toronto earlier this month, there's lots of potential energy in this industry waiting to be tapped.

AAER, Acciona, Enercon, EWT, GE, Mitsubishi, Northern Power, REpower, Siemens, and Suzlon had sales teams staffing their booths. Several executives mentioned the need for the loosening of credit to open the market for the growth, which remains slower than most expected this late in the year. Behind the scenes, however, there was serious talk of supply chain expansion as existing operations seek to domesticate their supply chains and others look to get started here in North America.

And there's good news in Ontario too. The parliament for Canada's largest province has just passed legislation for a Feed-in-Tariff that will drive new wind installations by providing fixed prices for both onshore and offshore wind parks for the next 20 years. The law provides for an initial 25% domestic content requirement for these Ontario projects, and this provision is creating excitement among local manufacturers.

Attendance at CanWEA's annual conference was pegged at just over 2,000 with 235 exhibitors, a departure from the scene at AWEA's Chicago event earlier this summer. High admission prices tend to keep the crowds down, but those who made the investment were rewarded with easy access to senior personnel from many of the exhibitors in attendance.

A rule of thumb for the Canadian market is to take ten percent of the U.S. and that's what you'll find north of the border.

Cast-Fab Technologies:
Offering Total Solutions for the Wind Industry

Cast-Fab Technologies, Inc., a southwestern Ohio based gray and ductile iron foundry with approximately 240 employees and a half million square feet under roof, offers a unique set of integrated services for the wind industry - their core casting business plus rough- and semi-finish machining, fabrication, and component assembly services.

Within the casting group, Cast-Fab capabilities include a full pattern facility with 5-axis router equipment and 90,000 lb. tap capability producing parts ranging in size from five to 80,000 pounds. On the fabrication side, capabilities include on-staff certified welders as well as extensive fabrication machinery producing heavy plate weldments into the 40 ton range as well as small cosmetic sheet metal type work. Rounding out Cast-Fab's substantial level of supply chain integration is their extensive machining capabilities utilizing machine tools such as a 260" horizontal capacity gantry type milling machine.

These capabilities led Cast-Fab to get involved in utility grade wind supply early on. Currently they produce castings for several turbine manufacturers. According to Ross Bushman, Cast-Fab's President and COO, the company is focused on providing total customer service and reaffirming America's manufacturing excellence even when compared to the increasingly competitive global supply chain marketplace.

If your company is entering the wind supply chain and you would like to be featured in upcoming newsletters, please contact Mari-Elen Sammon at 216.588.1440 ext. 121.

WINDAlert: Fanning the Flames of Progress

In late July, the Great Lakes WIND Network instituted its new WINDAlert program. This strategy, developed in response to requests from OEMs for specific supplier recommendations, has quickly become another successful way for GLWN to accomplish its mission to increase the domestic content of North America's wind turbines. To date, we have made over 40 connections based on several requests.

Here's how it works: an OEM or first-tier manufacturer contacts us with a specific need. For instance, they might be looking for a company with large fabrication capabilities within a certain geographic area. We then pass that information along to two groups of people: those manufacturers we know fit the bill and also to our partners who might be aware of additional potential fits. Once we have a working list of first-class candidates, we pass those names back to the OEM. This is targeted match making at its best.

For more information about the WINDAlerts, contact Dee Holody at 216.588.1440 ext. 126.