“Montana’s on the move. I am very pleased that Fuhrlander Company, a growing wind turbine manufacturer, has identified Montana as the place to locate a production and assembly facility,” Schweitzer said about the announcement. “Montana’s business-friendly environment, along with our vast potential for wind energy development, make our state the natural choice for this level of investment.”Construction of the plant, which will be located in Butte, is set to begin in the fall of 2008 and is initially estimated to employ 150 people. Plans to potentially expand into labor-intensive blade manufacturing at the Butte site could result in an additional 600 jobs in the future. The blades are 150 feet long and the turbines are 2.5 MW in size.
“This $25 million project will bring jobs and tax base to Butte and is largely a result of our ‘clean & green’ energy incentives,” said Governor Schweitzer, who has been recognized nationally as a leader in innovative energy ideas.Fuhrlander began conversations with Governor Schweitzer and state officials in early 2007 while considering several U.S. locations.
“When I met with Governor Brian Schweitzer and all his highly qualified team in Montana, I could see all the opportunities for education and training, cooperation with universities, the infrastructure and the market, it was clear, that we had to do more than only to sell wind turbines. Now we have decided to install a manufactory line for the turbines,” said Joachim Fuhrlander.The jobs will be in mechanical, electric and electronic work, welding, steel work, metal work, accounting, office work and marketing.
Montana currently has about 50 wind power projects in various stages of discussion that could total over 4,000 MW of wind energy.
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