generation company Alstom plans to open a wind turbine assembly facility in Amarillo, Texas. The plant is expected to create 275 full-time engineering, production and technical support jobs in the area. The 115,000 square-foot wind turbine assembly facility will assemble nacelles, which will be transported from Amarillo to various projects sites for installation. Alstom's offerings include the ECO 80/86 wind turbine platform (1.67 MW) and the ECO 100/110 wind turbine platform (3 MW) to accommodate the differing wind regimes across North America. ‘Amarillo is a compelling location for our wind turbine assembly facility in North America, because it is centrally located with excellent access to future wind power projects,’ says Andy Geissbuehler, vice president and general manager of Alstom Wind North America. ‘In addition, Amarillo has demonstrated impressive foresight by investing in the real estate and infrastructure that ideally suits our operational needs.’ Alstom has also signed a long-term, collaborative research and development agreement with the U.S Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The agreement calls for testing and reporting on the performance of the ALSTOM PURE TORQUE design, a rotor support concept that delivers higher gearbox reliability, higher operational availability and lower maintenance costs, according to the company. The testing will take place at NREL's National Wind Technology Center, located near Boulder, Colo. The collaborative research, which will also result in the North American certification of Alstom's ECO 100, 3 MW wind turbine, is scheduled to begin this fall and be completed by middle of 2011. SOURCE: [link=http://www.alstom.com/home/]Alstom[/link
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