Washington (Platts)--12May2009

The US Department of Energy said Tuesday it would invest $25 million of
its $39 billion in stimulus funds into the first commercial large wind turbine
blade facility in the US.

In an announcement Tuesday on the Boston Harbor, where the Massachusetts'
Wind Technology Testing Center will be built, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said
the facility will bring turbine manufacturing to the US and create hundreds of
new jobs.

Chu said the facility will attract companies to design, manufacture, and
test their blades in the US, which will help US-based companies who are part
of the supply chain for wind-turbine production--fiber glass distributors,
advanced composite materials manufacturers and others--grow.

To date, DOE has decided to invest about $118 million for wind energy
development, with $93 million coming from stimulus funding. Chu said at the
WindPower 2009 Conference in Chicago earlier this month that the department
would invest $8.5 million into 53 new wind energy projects this year.

--Dipka Bhambhani, dipka_bhambhani@platts.com