Jan 20 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Dave DeWitte The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa


A major layoff today at Clipper Windpower's Cedar Rapids turbine works sent dozens of stunned workers home.

Employees leaving the plant said they were told that their terminations were due to slowing market conditions, including difficulty by wind developers to access tax equity and project debt financing.

The layoff affected about 90 of the company's 830 employees worldwide, according to Mary Gates, Clipper director of global communications. Gates said "a good number of the layoffs" took place at Clipper's production facility, which employs nearly 390.

Gates said some wind developers have asked to defer delivery of wind turbines into 2010 and 2011. She said Clipper remains optimistic about the future of the wind generation industry.

Employees interviewed by GazetteOnline.com said the pace of production had been intense over most of the last year, before slowing in September, shortly after the financial meltdown on Wall Street. Employees had received bonuses only last week for meeting production goals last year.

Clipper management called employees into a meeting Tuesday to announce the cutback. Employees were told that work might not be available until the spring of 2010, and they would have to reapply for jobs.

"You could have a heard a pin drop in there," said one employee, who asked not to be identified because of concerns he might not be reemployed. "It was like going to a funeral."

Clipper manufactures the 2.5 megawatt Liberty wind turbine in Cedar Rapids. The Carpinteria, Calif.-based company began major production in Cedar Rapids in 2005.

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