Where Do They Make Wind Turbines?

It is almost impossible to make the blades here in the US with all of the EPA regulations and such it would cost a fortune to build the plant and take years for approval if it was approved at all.

A friend I know builds boats and wanted to expand his plant, until he found out that if he made any changes at all he would have to meet all the current regulations. Once he found out that it would cost a small fortune and drive up the price of his boats he decided to not change a thing, effectively killing jobs that would have been created in construction and manufacturing. Originally Posted by The2Dogs

Isn't Texas a republican controlled state?

I have friends all over the place in many states but to answer you question NO, it is controlled by the federal government which is currently in the hands of Democrats.
The regulations are federal regulations imposed on the state not state regulations imposed on the business.

Small businesses do not have the resources to battle the federal government and withstand their seemingly unlimited resources so that even if he were to win he would lose and if he lost he would lose even bigger. The result is no expansion to the business.

Texas is in the hands of the democrats??Bull shit...

Let me see the current president is a Democrat, the Senate is Democrat, we are forced to comply with federal regulations imposed by democrats.....The democrats at the federal level withhold returning our money back to us if we do not submit to the Democrats rules.

Texas would be much better off if we were not a part of the Union. It is a shame we did not know just hw wealthy this state is in natural resources.

China exports about 95 percent of the world’s Rare Earth Metals supply.
Can't make Wind Turbines without Rare Earths.
GM and Toyota are working on substitutes.
Hitachi made an electric motor without Rare Earths.
Rare Earth Metals are in basically everything from smart phones to US military weapons.

DEFENSE TECHNICAL INFORMATION CENTER: United States African Command, Strategic Minerals, China and the Next 20 Years Originally Posted by SEE3772

I think you mean China "imports" 95% of the world's rare earth metals. Africa exports them.

What rare earth metals do you need for a wind turbine. It is basically an electric motor (copper wires and huge magnets) that is turned on a shaft by the turbine blades. What are the rare earth metals.

BTW, you have posted a lot of stupid links in the past, but that is the most hysterically melodramatic video link yet.

The sinister dramatic music and the scrolling text about the "US Africa Command" - it makes it sound so powerful and world shaking.

The US has 9 Combatant commands, for Europe, Africa, South America, the Pacific, the Middle East, etc. Read about them here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Combatant_Command

The Africa Command is probably the most pathetic. It has only been around for 5 years. It looks like an afterthought. It isn't even in Africa. It's in Stuttgart Germany and it has only 3,600 troops. That's only a fraction of one division. It's barely a brigade. Read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...Africa_Command

China already has about half of Africa locked up. They are building roads, mines, factories, railways, etc. I say let them. When some nation in the future is criticized for exploiting Africa's naturals resources and polluting its rivers, its air and its land, let it be China.

try Gainesville, TX

http://www.windenergyservicesusa.com...olidates-texas Originally Posted by cptjohnstone

Gainesville, TX has a plant that makes the blades.

The greatest number are made in India closely followed by Brazil. The Port Of Houston has a special facility set up to receive them off of ships and transport them by convoys to the wind farms. Originally Posted by The2Dogs

China makes some wind tower tubes, arrive via ship at Corpus Christie, Galveston, Houston and Beaumont.
Brazil and Spain make most of the blades that are imported.
Special facilities are really not needed, just large storage areas. Shipboard cranes do most of the off-loads. There are also ports on the great lakes that recieve wind tower components via ship and barge.

It is almost impossible to make the blades here in the US with all of the EPA regulations and such it would cost a fortune to build the plant and take years for approval if it was approved at all.

A friend I know builds boats and wanted to expand his plant, until he found out that if he made any changes at all he would have to meet all the current regulations. Once he found out that it would cost a small fortune and drive up the price of his boats he decided to not change a thing, effectively killing jobs that would have been created in construction and manufacturing. Originally Posted by The2Dogs

There are quite a few blade plants here domestically.
Little Rock, AR
Newton, IA
Gainesville, TX
Windsor, CO
Grand Forks, ND
...there are more to the list.

The facilities making the tubes are in WI, IL, IA, CO, TX, OK, and other states.

The truckers transporting these loads and the oversize escorts live all over the USA and leave their money across the states.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but because of election year again, lots of people are being laid off because the regiem cancels the credits for wind energy to try to gain more votes. Most of the steel used in the making of these towers comes from domestic sources. The industry empoyees a very huge amount of people!

It is almost impossible to make the blades here in the US with all of the EPA regulations and such it would cost a fortune to build the plant and take years for approval if it was approved at all. Originally Posted by The2Dogs

How is that the case?

I have lost count of the number of time I have seen enormous turbine blades being transported on Texas highways. They are about a half football field long, including the truck cab. It's like a long flat bed truck, except there is no flat bed. The blades themselves are the flatbed. A first set of 8 wheels is attached to the truck cab. One end of the blades rests on the first set of 8 wheels. A second set of 8 wheels supports the other end of the blades more that 100 feet away.. In between - nothing but the blades.

It's my understanding we make many of the blades in the US and we import the turbines from China, because the Chinese make the electronic part cheaper.

The reason wind power is depressed is that fracking has made natural gas and even some oil so much cheaper. We can generate electricity more cheaply with gas than with wind - at least for now. So wind has fallen out of favor. T. Boone Pickens had plans to sink hundreds of millions into wind farms in Texas. Those plans are now on hold. And he has lost a small fortune on his initial investment.

Check out this link:

http://www.startribune.com/politics/...149884715.html

It's interesting, but T. Boone admits "I lost my ass" on wind energy.

A friend I know builds boats and wanted to expand his plant, until he found out that if he made any changes at all he would have to meet all the current regulations. Once he found out that it would cost a small fortune and drive up the price of his boats he decided to not change a thing, effectively killing jobs that would have been created in construction and manufacturing. Originally Posted by The2Dogs

If the EPA is requiring your friend to be more energy efficient and/or to install pollution controls, I'm all in favor of it.

What we need to do is insist other nations use the same pollution controls or else we won't buy from them. That way the Chinese cannot undersell us so easily - in part by building cheap and dirty factories. The downside is we will pay more for stuff, but we will have more manufacturing done here.

How is that the case?

I have lost count of the number of time I have seen enormous turbine blades being transported on Texas highways. They are about a half football field long, including the truck cab. It's like a long flat bed truck, except there is no flat bed. The blades themselves are the flatbed. A first set of 8 wheels is attached to the truck cab. One end of the blades rests on the first set of 8 wheels. A second set of 8 wheels supports the other end of the blades more that 100 feet away.. In between - nothing but the blades.

The blades can be up to 160' long, and are transported on a trailer that telescopes from 50' to almost 150'. The trailer axles also are steerable to navigate curves and corners. Blades weigh up to 20,000 lbs
The tower sections can weigh up to 160,000 lbs and may reqire a 13 axle rig that can be almost 200' long loaded.

It's my understanding we make many of the blades in the US and we import the turbines from China, because the Chinese make the electronic part cheaper.

Most of the 'generators' are made here in the USA, probably less than 25% comes from overseas.



What we need to do is insist other nations use the same pollution controls or else we won't buy from them. That way the Chinese cannot undersell us so easily - in part by building cheap and dirty factories. The downside is we will pay more for stuff, but we will have more manufacturing done here. Originally Posted by ExNYer

Cleaner environment is always better!

I think you mean China "imports" 95% of the world's rare earth metals. Africa exports them.

What rare earth metals do you need for a wind turbine. It is basically an electric motor (copper wires and huge magnets) that is turned on a shaft by the turbine blades. What are the rare earth metals.

BTW, you have posted a lot of stupid links in the past, but that is the most hysterically melodramatic video link yet.

The sinister dramatic music and the scrolling text about the "US Africa Command" - it makes it sound so powerful and world shaking.

The US has 9 Combatant commands, for Europe, Africa, South America, the Pacific, the Middle East, etc. Read about them here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Combatant_Command

The Africa Command is probably the most pathetic. It has only been around for 5 years. It looks like an afterthought. It isn't even in Africa. It's in Stuttgart Germany and it has only 3,600 troops. That's only a fraction of one division. It's barely a brigade. Read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...Africa_Command

China already has about half of Africa locked up. They are building roads, mines, factories, railways, etc. I say let them. When some nation in the future is criticized for exploiting Africa's naturals resources and polluting its rivers, its air and its land, let it be China. Originally Posted by ExNYer

Go do some research.
Here let me help you...
http://www.economist.com/node/18750574?

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&spell=...w=1092&bih=564

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...nda-marches-on

I am at the New Orleans Investment Conference this week where Rare Earth companies are in attendance. I invest in the sector, I think I would know. Idiots like you that don't know... the reason why America is turning into a shit hole. I take that you did read the PDF before you typed your uneducated opinion. Sorry if you can't comprehend the threads I have posted. Every time you try to challenge my knowledge you are proven wrong. Maybe you should stop or at least do some research in the future before you comment.

peace

Go do some research.
Here let me help you...
http://www.economist.com/node/18750574?

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&spell=...w=1092&bih=564

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...nda-marches-on

I am at the New Orleans Investment Conference this week where Rare Earth companies are in attendance. I invest in the sector, I think I would know. Idiots like you that don't know... the reason why America is turning into a shit hole. I take that you did read the PDF before you typed your uneducated opinion. Sorry if you can't comprehend the threads I have posted. Every time you try to challenge my knowledge you are proven wrong. Maybe you should stop or at least do some research in the future before you comment.

peace Originally Posted by SEE3772

No one can comprehend the threads you post. All you ever post is a title and a link.

And most of the links point to paranoid YouTube videos (like the US Africa command video) or crackpot websites.

And the PDF doesn't clear anything up. The author starts out by saying (footnote 1) the opinions are his and don't reflect the opinion of any branch of the US government and the Conclusions and Recommendations sections are a bunch of "on the one hand" and "on the other hand" pontificating about forming strategic partnerships.

How exactly does it relate to or clear up that dopey YouTube video?

Every time you try to challenge my knowledge you are proven wrong. Originally Posted by SEE3772

Really? Does that mean China does export 95% of the world's rare earth metals? Not Africa?