Ball State does not have a school of engineering, nor does it offer a major in wind turbine design, but high-tech wind power companies located near Muncie could be strong employment opportunities for Ball State graduates and others in an area hard hit by declines in traditional manufacturing.
"There are opportunities for both the young just getting out of school, but also older residents in this sector," Sen. Richard Lugar said during a visit to Brevini Power Transmission headquarters Tuesday.
Brevini relocated its headquarters in 2009 from a suburb near Chicago to Yorktown, investing more than $60 million to build a new plant and promising to develop 450 local jobs.
Sal Spada, Brevini president, said the company offers jobs in different areas, including engineering and assembly.
"Although we are heavy engineering, we also need accountants, operations, logistics," he said. "Unfortunately we came here just when the economy went way south, and it's starting to pick up. We are always looking for young people to come into this business. They have to train, it's not a glamorous type of position, but it's steady."
The company is known for making gearboxes for agriculture, transportation and mining applications. Brevini Wind USA, a new branch of Brevini Power Transmission, will make gearboxes for wind-generated turbines.
Brevini is one of several companies setting up operations and projects near Indiana as part of an expansion of the wind-power industry, which is fueled not only by wind but by millions in federal tax subsidies.
Howard Kruger, a wind power industry consultant with Nordex USA, said Tuesday night on the Ball State campus that the industry's expansion means substantial economic development opportunities in Indiana.
"Hopefully, as the economy picks up you will see states like Indiana, Michigan and Ohio in particular filling the end of manufacturing jobs and technologies," he said.
Kruger said although new green energy companies in the state will help restore jobs lost with the decline of manufacturing industries in Indiana, it will not create enough jobs for that area.
"If you think about everything that was made here, you manufacture a car, you hope to sell 30,000 units a car just of one model and that would be poor," he said. "If we sell 800 turbines a year we're lucky. It's different scale, but the type of manufacturing can pick up some of the slack."
Delaware County is among the top 10 counties in Indiana that have lost manufacturing jobs, dropping more than 11,000 jobs from 1973 to 2007, according to a report from the Ball State Center for Business and Economic Research.
Kruger said depending on the state, the wind-power industry helps farms and towns that benefit from wind turbines, saving tax money that goes to the county.
"When a turbine project goes into [large farmer towns], the economic development that occurs in that area is absolutely unbelievable," he said. "There are schools in Minnesota in which they have the most revenue flowing into their districts. Teacher salaries have skyrocketed and resources available for kids in that area are absolutely phenomenal."
Nordex USA recently opened a new manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, Ark., providing 42 jobs locally and 150 nationally. Nordex plans to employ up to 1,000 people nationally in four to five years.
Indiana has viable wind resources in limited pockets scattered across the northern half of the state. Although Indiana is not a state with high wind speed, it is one of few states that has power lines. Minnesota, one of the states with the highest wind speeds in the country, does not have many power lines because of its low population.
Lugar said Congress has worked to create federal funds for environmental companies, but there's no federal law that regulates energy generation, a law Kruger said would benefit environmental companies and counties.
The state of Indiana does not have a law to regulate energy generation using wind power. However, some counties have already passed ordinances that regulate energy generation. Kruger said one of the main points to look for when considering to offer wind-power energy is whether there is a state law regulating energy generation.
"Even though we want to be green, until it makes economic green we're not changing," he said. "And we are at a point in this country where it will quickly make economic sense."
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