Wind Energy Blade Maker Moved Headquarters to Scottsdale - PhoenixCEOCFO.com

Wind Energy Blade Maker Moved Headquarters to Scottsdale

TPI Composites Inc. makes the enormous blades for wind turbines in plants in Iowa, Mexico and China, but it moved its company headquarters to Scottsdale in 2007 from Warren, R.I. The company still uses its Warren, R.I., facility for research. The company believes that its global growth required them to move to Scottsdale. Steven Lockard, TPI president/CEO told the Arizona Republic, "…a number of our key leadership team were already here or wanted to be here. You can get anywhere from Sky Harbor (airport)."

The company makes the three blades used on wind turbines from high-strength plastic composites. The blades represent about 20 percent of the cost. Trucking the blades from the plants to the wind farms where they will be installed can account for as much as 30 percent of their cost. The other portion is installation. According to the Arizona Republic, the going rate to install is about $2 per watt which for a 1 megawatt turbine, would be $2 million, the blades and transportation would be around another $1 to 2 million.

With high demand for wind energy, the company's Mexico facility which it started in 2002 is tripling in size and will be able to make 1,200 megawatts' worth of turbines a year. Their China plant opened in May 2008 and the Iowa plant completed its first blade in August 2008. Mitsubishi is one of its two customers for TPI, but the other is GE Energy which TPI's Iowa and China facilities were built to supply.

TPI executives declined to share revenue data or speculate about whether they would consider offering public shares.

John Laub is the Chairman of the Phoenix CEO-CFO Group.

1. "Scottsdale Company Capitalizes on Alt-Energy Momentum." Ryan Randazzo. August 31, 2008. The Arizona Republic.

2. http://www.tpicomposites.com

3. "T. Boone Pickens' $2 Billion Bet on Wind Energy." Money Morning. Seeking Alpha. May 16, 2008.