Barre wind firm has global ambitions
Date: 05/18/2009
Company: Northern Power
Source: Burlington Free Press
BARRE — Private investors purchased wind-turbine manufacturer Northern Power Systems out of bankruptcy in August. Since then, the new owners have raised $40 million in capital, hired a CEO and set out to become a global player in the wind energy business.
Workers on the company’s cavernous production floor once built a few turbines a year. Soon, they’ll build four or five a week.
Sales of the $330,000 Northwind 100 turbine are expected to double this year. Company employment, already up by a third, will nearly double, to 150 people.
And then there’s 2010.
After years of selling 100-kilowatt turbines to remote Alaskan villages, the company next year will begin building a multimillion-dollar 2.2-megawatt turbine destined for utility wind farms across the country.