Published: November 05, 2009
Energy Composites Corporation Signs Agreement to Develop WindFiber Blade Production Facility
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Energy Composites Corporation (OTCBB:ENCC) announced that the Company
has reached agreement with the City of Wisconsin Rapids, WI to develop
two parcels totaling 93 acres into the world's most advanced wind blade
facility. The announcement represents the next major milestone in the
accelerating deployment of ECC's WindFiber strategy, following ECC's
recent appointment of Adrian Williams to head its WindFiber division.
Under the developers agreement between the City of Wisconsin Rapids and
ECC, the City has agreed to sell a 39 acre parcel and a 54 acre parcel
in the Rapids East Commerce Center to ECC for $500/acre for the
development of a major utility-scale wind blade production facility and
associated logistics center. The agreement provides for at least $7.5
million in development incentives from the City, including site
improvements, job creation cash credits, and additional cash payments.
The minimum incentive threshold was calculated based on ECC's original
plans for a facility that would produce enough blades to equip wind
energy systems producing 750 megawatts of power per year. Since ECC's
final design will provide blades for more than 1,200 megawatts of power
annually -- a 60% increase in output -- the Company anticipates that the
final level of developers incentives from the City will grow
significantly as the size of the total tax increment grows. Closing on
the land acquisition will occur before the end of December.
Sam Fairchild, ECC's CEO, stated that, "Our ongoing partnership with the
City of Wisconsin Rapids, and this developers agreement, is a critical
footing in our efforts to launch the world's most advanced wind blade
facility. I can't say enough about the enormous contribution by Mayor
Mary Jo Carson and her excellent staff in making this a reality. Mayor
Carson gets it, and her hard work will generate economic benefit for the
people of Wisconsin Rapids for many years to come. We also want to thank
the Common Council for its faith in our combined vision and its
recognition of our unwavering commitment to Wisconsin Rapids."
Jamie Mancl, ECC's founder and President, noted, that "The process of
working with the City and other parties produced a final plan that is
dramatically better than the one with which we started. Mayor Carson and
her staff were very patient with us as we shifted our plans in real time
to capture newly-emerging trends in the market. For example, our final
requirements for land and investment by the City reflects newly-emerging
market trends in wind -- a greater emphasis on development of offshore
wind farms, and the longer wind blades required by those farms; a
stronger need for more flexible logistics strategies, including the use
of unit trains for shipping finished blades for installation; heightened
sensitivity to the environmental impact of blade production; and a
substantially higher degree of automation required for future blade
production. As we worked through these and other refinements, our vision
for our WindFiber Campus, and the more than 600 high-paid, permanent
jobs it will create, took final shape."
Adrian Williams, WindFiber's director and the central architect of the
Windfiber strategy, commented that "This agreement sets all of the
wheels into motion. ECC's blade plant will be the first production
facility in North America that is designed to produce blades up to 65
meters in length, ideally positioning us to deliver blade solutions for
the coming generation of large-diameter onshore and offshore wind energy
turbines. These larger machines, already in use throughout Europe,
maximize energy capture and minimize the cost of energy produced. The
WindFiber plant will enjoy maximum production design flexibility in
order to meet the blade requirements of our customers. We will also be
able to employ innovative supply chain strategies that will give us a
strong competitive edge as well as unique product and manufacturing
technologies that will deliver significant improvements in blade
reliability, turbine availability and manufacturing efficiency. As we
begin to break ground, we will roll out the details on these advantages
to the marketplace, as well as the other key elements of our WindFiber
strategy."
Mary Jo Carson, the Mayor of the City of Wisconsin Rapids, expressed her
strong commitment to the success of WindFiber , saying, "The City of
Wisconsin Rapids has just taken a giant step into the world of "green"
jobs. Energy Composites Corporation will be creating more than 600
non-exportable jobs in Wisconsin Rapids in the very near future. This
means that the blades that ECC's employees will be making for the wind
energy sector are too large to be made and shipped to the United States
from places like China. Our City is proud to be part of this project and
we look forward to production beginning towards the end of 2010." Carson
added that "The ECC projects is yet another example of the power of a
public/private partnership, creating a long-term relationship that will
benefit the City, the company, and the people of Wisconsin Rapids."
Fairchild added, "This is an important milestone. There are, of course
several more ahead. With the developer agreement signed, ECC can now
begin specific discussions with our targeted clients on schedules,
costs, manufacturing requirements and the like. We can now finalize
financing. We can nail down the final architectural requirements and
place out bid packages. And we can begin to focus on the remaining parts
of our WindFiber campus, including our research and development
component. We are very pleased with our progress, and look forward to
delivering substantial value to our shareholders, our clients, our
employee-associates and our community."
About Energy Composites Corporation
ECC operates a world-class, automated 73,000 sq. ft. climate-controlled
manufacturing facility in Wisconsin Rapids, WI, employing advanced
composite materials to design, engineer and manufacture complex
composite structures, vessels and processing systems for a range of
clean-tech applications that include: wind energy system components,
flue gas desulfurization for power plants, infrastructure for bio-fuel
storage and processing, infrastructure for managing waste water and
drinking water, advanced municipal utilities infrastructure, and caustic
material storage and handling systems for the petrochemical, mining and
the pulp and paper industries. ECC also provides 24/7 field service
crews nationwide for wind energy system composites maintenance, repair
and overhaul; industrial retrofit, shutdown and maintenance; system
installation; and repair and inspection services. For additional
information, visit our website at www.energycompositescorp.com
or contact Sam Fairchild at 1-800-787-5439.
Certain statements found in this press release may constitute
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on
current expectations and include any statement that does not directly
relate to a current or historical fact. Such statements are generally
identifiable by the terminology used, such as "anticipate," "believe,"
"intend," " expect," "plan," or other similar words. Our forward-looking
statements in this release generally relate to our expectations and
beliefs with respect to our growth and expansion activities and plans.
Although it is not possible to foresee all of the factors that may cause
actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements, such
factors include, among others, the following: (i) unforeseen delays,
costs or liabilities associated with our growth and expansion plans;
(ii) fluctuations in general economic conditions; and (iii) those risks
described from time to time in our reports to the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Investors should not consider any list of such
factors to be an exhaustive statement of all of the risks, uncertainties
or potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause our current
expectations or beliefs to change. Shareholders and other readers should
not place undue reliance on "forward-looking statements" as such
statements speak only as of the date of this release. We undertake no
obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements,
other than as required by law.
Energy Composites Corporation
Sam Fairchild, 800-787-5439
www.energycompositescorp.com
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