Wind Energy Business Propels Beaird Co.
Published Mar 11, 2008
Beaird Co. workers build wind towers for wind energy projects across the United States.
Northwest Louisiana prospered on oil and gas, and those traditional energy sources are still a major part of its economy.
But as gas prices soar, renewable energy sources are entering the national dialogue, and one Shreveport company is poised to benefit.
Beaird Industries began in 1918 and prospered for years as a major supplier of equipment for the oil and gas and other industries. But in 2004, a group of investors purchased its substantial assets, including a 16-acre, 1 million-square-foot manufacturing facility, and transformed it into the Beaird Co., a supplier of modern wind towers for the fast-growing wind energy market.
In 2005, the global wind power market increased by a record 43 percent, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, with a total value of new generating equipment installed reaching over $14 billion. Europe leads the way with 69 percent of the global total of installed capacity, but the United States was the country with the most new wind power in 2005, in part due to federal tax credits to encourage the development of renewable energy sources.
“In the wind energy business, we are the major player in wind towers,” says Bob Findeiss, vice president of labor relations. “The demand for clean, low-cost, renewable energy has driven companies such as ours to be a major player in that effort to become green.”
Beaird Co. transforms flat pieces of steel into 90-meter wind towers and sells them to turbine manufacturers, power companies and private developers who construct them on “wind farms.” Wind farms are located in natural wind corridors, where consistent wind patterns have been documented over years of study. Major corridors are located in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Canada, Iowa, Washington State, New Mexico and California.
Slowly, wind farms are making their way to the East Coast, Findeiss says. One obstacle to wind energy development is the perception that wind towers clutter the landscape. But Findeiss doesn’t see it that way. To him, a wind tower producing clean, low-cost energy is a thing of beauty.
Here’s how wind towers work: turbines have a propeller that is driven by the wind. It generates electricity and feeds it through a transmission line to a power company’s grid. Wind power increases energy capacity, thus cutting down on the amount that has to be supplied by coal, oil or nuclear power. Today’s taller towers catch up to 40 percent more wind than their 50-meter forerunners, and transmissions are controlled by computer so wind fluctuations don’t affect the consistency of power output.
Now, many state and local governments in the U.S. are passing legislation mandating a certain percentage of energy must be from a renewable source.
That’s welcome news to Findeiss, who sees record growth years ahead due to such measures. The company had 330 employees as of April 2006, and had plans to hire 100 more by early 2007.
“With oil prices where they are and us being at the mercy of the Middle East, renewable alternatives look more attractive,” he says. “We’re the new gold rush, if you will.”
Story by Jeannie A. Naujeck
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