Wind Today

Gary, S.D.--Energy Maintenance Service LLC (EMS) has completed upgrades to its wind turbine blade refurbishment facilities in Abilene, Texas.

The company’s service center now allows EMS to fully overhaul rotor blades of any size or type.

EMS, one of North America’s leading wind turbine operations and maintenance companies, is an operating company of Broadwind Energy, Inc., Naperville, Ill.

EMS opened the Abilene facility in June 2008, began setting up for the repair of MW-size blades and started repairing blades for two original equipment manufacturers in August 2008.

Meanwhile, EMS has been refurbishing portions of the plant and installing specialized equipment to accommodate future blade repair. The upgrades were completed in May 2009.

With 300,000 square feet of work space under roof and more than five acres of outside storage for nacelles, blades and other wind turbine components, the Abilene facility is the largest wind energy equipment service center and blade repair plant on the continent, according to EMS.

It also includes a megawatt-size sandblasting building for rotor blade surface preparation. The facility also serves as a hub for EMS field service operations in the region.

EMS plans to expand the down-tower work already being performed at the Abilene facility to include full-up tower blade repairs.

Several wind energy original equipment manufacturers have already started to use the facility due to its close proximity to North America’s largest installed wind capacity.

The EMS plant represents Broadwind Energy’s second investment in the Abilene area.

Earlier this month, another Broadwind company, Tower Tech Systems Inc., announced the grand opening of a new 150,000-square-foot wind tower manufacturing facility there.

See Related Websites/Articles:

• Energy Maintenance Service
• Broadwind Energy

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