Wind Power Jobs Come to the Region. Sort Of.

By Kevin Robinson in News on Oct 20, 2009 4:20PM

Sugar Grove-based Chicago Industrial Fasteners LLC announced a new partnership with Spain's Matz-Erreka SCL to market and distribute large bolts and rods for wind turbines. The agreement, which will bring the high-strength bolts that are used to hold together and anchor wind turbines from Spain to the United States, is expected to help CIF expand its wind power parts business in the U.S. While CIF will import the parts initially, the plan is to shift production to Sugar Grove, creating “conservatively 10 to 20 jobs,” according to John Price, the firm's president. Figuring in both transportation costs and the exchange rate, “we can be a lot more competitive if we don’t have to ship it from Spain.”

That's not to say that Illinois will benefit from an expansion in wind power. Unfortunately, government incentives in the state are geared more toward purchasing and installing a wind power system than manufacturing and selling the equipment necessary to benefit from wind power. While a free market economy demands that the most competitive environment attracts investment, Illinois is lagging behind other states that are well-positioned to take advantage of the push to shift to clean power.