Ground breaking for the $28 million plant is targeted for the third quarter of 2010, and the manufacturing facility is scheduled to come online as early as spring of 2011. Eagle Claw plans to move to full capacity late in 2011 to meet what it described as "pent-up and growing demand for new wind towers."
Eagle Claw said it intends to be the most efficient manufacturer of wind turbine towers in the southern part of the central U.S. wind corridor, adding, "The Company anticipates that its new fabrication facility will generate ancillary economic development for the City of Muskogee, Muskogee County and the State of Oklahoma by creating new high-paying manufacturing and management jobs, additional transportation and shipping activity, as well as increased income, sales and use tax revenues."
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Wind Tower Manufacturer Plans New Plant
Eagle Claw Fabrication, LLC, has announced plans to build a 150,000 sq. ft. facility specifically designed for the construction of wind turbine towers at the Port of Muskogee. Eagle Claw expects to create approximately 175 jobs in Phase 1 of the project.
Ground breaking for the $28 million wind tower facility is targeted for the third quarter of 2010, and the manufacturing facility is scheduled to come online as early as Spring of 2011. Eagle Claw plans to move to full capacity late in 2011 to meet the pent-up and growing demand for new wind towers.
The site on which the facility will be built, consisting of approximately 47 acres, is within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Port of Muskogee, located at River Mile 393 on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. The site is adjacent to the Port’s railcar marshaling yard, connecting with the Union Pacific Railroad in Muskogee.
Eagle Claw intends to be the most efficient manufacturer of wind turbine towers in the southern part of the Central U.S. Wind Corridor. The Company anticipates that its new fabrication facility will generate ancillary economic development for the City of Muskogee, Muskogee County and the State of Oklahoma by creating new high-paying manufacturing and management jobs, additional transportation and shipping activity, as well as increased income, sales and use tax revenues.
Eagle Claw founder, Tom Word, has owned, operated, managed and subsequently sold multiple U.S. steel fabrication companies over the last 35 years. According to Word, “Access to the McClellan-Kerr Waterway, via the Port of Muskogee, provides Eagle Claw with unique and substantive competitive advantages over other turbine tower manufacturers, including substantial transportation cost savings that can be passed along to its clients.”
Unlike most of its competitors, Eagle Claw will be able to acquire its basic raw material (steel) and distribute its final product (turbine towers) by truck, rail or barge. At the Port of Muskogee, Eagle Claw will have access to markets not otherwise accessible from an inland location.
Eagle Claw expects to devote 100% of its capacity to wind turbine tower construction, selling to wind turbine system manufacturers and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms, with whom Eagle Claw enjoys extensive, positive and trusted relationships. In addition to onshore wind towers, Eagle Claw will also have capabilities to fabricate offshore wind towers and numerous other heavy tubular structures for geothermal, tidal, solar, hydrokinetics, biomass and carbon capture industries.
"The timing of plans for the development of more than 100 additional acres at the Port of Muskogee – targeted to the location of wind energy manufacturers – couldn’t have been better. Eagle Claw is a perfect fit for the Port," says Scott Robinson, Port Director. "Port industries enjoy unique transportation options, providing them competitive access to ever-changing markets all over the world."
By Tom Gray, www.awea.org/blog/
