[NEWS] Spanish company will create 275 green jobs at new Milwaukee plant

Spanish company will create 275 green jobs at new Milwaukee plant


Ingeteam Inc., a Spanish manufacturer of wind turbine generators, will bring 275 jobs to a new factory to be built in Milwaukee’s Menomonee River Valley.

Sources said the new 50,000-square-foot plant will be constructed in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center on the west end of the valley and will create 275 new jobs in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett confimed Ingeteam’s decision this morning in his annual State of the City address, which was delivered at Manpower Inc.’s headquarters in downtown Milwaukee.

Additional information will be announced Tuesday in a press conference at 10 a.m. at Taylor Dynamometer, 3602 W. Wheelhouse Road, in the valley.

Bilbao, Spain-based Ingeteam decided upon Milwaukee as the location of its North American operations after a visit to Bilbao by a Milwaukee contingent that included Milwaukee City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux and Wisconsin Commerce Secretary Richard “Rocky” Marcoux.

The decision by Ingeteam to come to Milwaukee is a major triumph for the Milwaukee 7 (M-7) economic development coalition.

Pat O’Brien, executive director of Milwaukee 7, said, “It’s a validation that our strategy, to become regional, can produce results. It’s a big win having an international company moving to Milwaukee. However, we still think retention and internal growth is the primary focus, but relocation has a lot of sizzle. This announcement puts us on the map. We are now in the attraction game. We have key assets here that companies find desirable.”

“It shows the multiplier affect than we can compete globally when we work together as a region,” said Greater Milwaukee Committee president Julia Taylor.

Milwaukee was one of three North American finalists as the location the plant.

The Milwaukee factory was made possible by $1.66 million in clean-tech manufacturing tax credits to Ingeteam from the Obama administration’s stimulus package.

Ingeteam has been operating a temporary office in Mequon.

President Barack Obama previously announced that his administration is awarding $2.3 billion in tax credits to the private sector for clean energy manufacturing projects across the country, including seven companies in Wisconsin that will receive a combined $21 million in tax breaks.

A total of 183 projects across the nation will receive the tax breaks, which are part of the federal economic stimulus package passed last year.

The White House said the projects will create 17,000 jobs and will boost U.S. manufacturing of advanced clean energy technologies including solar, wind and efficiency and energy management technologies.

“Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future,” Obama said. “The (tax credit) awards that I am announcing today will help close the clean energy gap that has grown between America and other nations while creating good jobs, reducing our carbon emissions and increasing our energy security.”

The Menomonee Valley Industrial Center was created by the city from a 134-acre site that it acquired from Chicago-based CMC Heartland Partners in 2003. The city spent millions to clean up and attract development to this industrial park.

Several businesses have built facilities in the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center including Palermo Villa Inc., Derse Inc., Charter Wire, Badger Railing, Caleffi North America Inc. and Taylor Dynamometer Inc.

http://www.biztimes.com/daily/2010/2/15/