Marketplace Today Blog

In a year when the national spotlight has shone on Manitowoc for its burgeoning manufacturing sector, strong economy and high quality of life, Manitowoc has stepped forward with another first.

Manitowoc is the first city in Wisconsin to pass municipal legislation that allows the building of large-scale wind power generation within the city limits. On Monday, Mayor Kevin Crawford signed into law an ordinance that allows wind towers nearly as tall as a 40-story building to be built in areas zoned for light and heavy industry where setback requirements can be met.

Crawford believes Manitowoc will become the national epicenter for alternative and renewable energy technology development and the cache of “green collar” jobs that go with this new economy.

“Our city owns the largest city-owned electric generating facility in our state which employs CFB clean coal technologies,” he said. “We are also home to a major cluster of impressive green manufacturing businesses: Tower Tech, a builder of wind towers; Orion Energy, in the business of energy efficiency and renewables; Manitowoc Cranes, building wind generation erection equipment; and the long list of organizations that support them. Our location on the Niagara Escarpment coupled with the incredible wind plume generated by Lake Michigan make us not only a great place to build the key components of the wind industry, but also a great place to generate electricity using the wind as well.”

The first industry expected to employ the new law is Orion Energy, which plans to construct one 1.5-megawatt wind turbine in the near future. The company plans a collaboration with Tower Tech, GE, Lakeshore Technical College, Manitowoc Cranes and others to make the project a reality.

“Manitowoc’s location on Lake Michigan, basically at the geographic center of North America, makes it a great place to do business,” said Orion Energy CEO Neal Verfeurth. “The lake offers low cost resource transportation, and a quality business airport allows prospective clients to fly in, do their deals and get home in the same day. That’s fantastic for sales.”

Crawford hopes the City of Manitowoc’s example will be a watershed moment for wind power in other areas of the state.

“Many local governments busy themselves with political pandering rather than the facts regarding wind power,” he said. “This small city’s advocacy that will result in the installation of wind structures on the shore of Lake Michigan will hopefully not only expand our local and state ‘green’ economy, but also change the focus of wind generation discussions by ‘electeds’ from politics to renewable energy policy.”