A Blow to the Arkansas Sustainasphere: Nordex USA to Cease Arkansas Production

The Arkansas Advanced Energy Association (“AAEA”), reported this morning that Nordex USA will soon be ceasing production at its’ manufacturing facility in Jonesboro, Arkansas:

AAEA learned this morning that Nordex USA will cease nacelle production at its Jonesboro, Arkansas facility after it completes the orders in its current pipeline. The decision was driven by the wind industry's global overcapacity and the continued uncertainty and instability of the US market. The decision will not impact the current year's business performance, as exceptional expenses were already accounted for in 2012 as previously reported. The training academy, the central parts storage and the repair facility in Jonesboro will remain in operation to support Service and Operations in the Americas. Around 40 employees will be affected with layoffs beginning in October 2013. Ralf Sigrist, President & CEO of Nordex USA, Inc. commented, "This is a sad day for all of us at Nordex USA. We will lose valued colleagues, who have done their very best for us, but the decision was inevitable considering the underutilization of our plant." In the future, nacelles for the North and Latin American markets will be supplied from Nordex' factory in Rostock, Germany, using the global supply chain and logistics support based there.

Special thanks to the AAEA folks for sharing this developing news.

October Renewable Energy Recap

It is not widely known, but Arkansas is poised to be a leader in green and renewable energy development, technology, and manufacturing. Consider:

• On October 4, 2010, German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex opened a 42-employee manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The plant is Nordex’s sole manufacturing presence in the United States.

• Three days later, on October 7, 2010, Mitsubishi Power Systems broke ground on a $100 million wind turbine manufacturing plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The plant is expected to be operational in the fall of 2011 and will create 330 jobs.

• On October 23, 2010, one of the premier venture capital forums for emerging technologies, WBT 2011, announced that Arkansas technology start-up Silicon Solar Solutions will be one of 100 companies selected to present to interested investors and venture capitalists. (Silicon Solar Solutions is a Fayetteville-based company committed to making solar energy more accessible and affordable. If the Silicon Solar Solutions folks are right, they have invented the better mousetrap.)

And that’s just the news for October 2010 – so far. The end of this week will see the Little Rock Sustainability Summit, (see previous post) and I expect Arkansas’s emerging place in the sustainasphere to be on display. Stay tuned….

(Department of Full Disclosure: My firm, Williams & Anderson PLC, is outside general counsel for Silicon Solar Solutions.)