LM Glasfiber expects better year in 2010 as demand for wind turbine blades picks up

LM Glasfiber told Grand Forks City Council members Monday night that despite the tough economy, the company expects a rebound.

This past year, the wind turbine blade company did have to cut its work force by way of attrition, plant manager Bill Burga said. Today, it employs 750 in Grand Forks, he said.

A year ago, it employed about 900 and Burga warned that there might be cuts ahead.

Nevertheless, he told the council Monday that the future looks bright. Demand for wind turbine blades is up and looks like it’ll keep growing. U.S. demand is now No. 1 in the world, ahead of traditional leader Germany.

“We’re operating in a marketplace that has a need for what we provide,” Burga said. But he warned that it’s now a buyer’s market and cutting costs is important.

The city is LM’s landlord. The company leases from the city its main plant in the Industrial Park and more than half of a neighboring building, which it shares with Amazon.com.

Urban Development Director Greg Hoover confirmed that LM is negotiating a reduction in the lease of the Amazon.com building. Any change, he said, would not be very large but enough to offer LM a competitive advantage.

The company also leases various properties from other landowners throughout the Red River Valley to store its giant blades.

The size of those blades will prove a challenge for LM in the future, Burga said. Wind farm developers have shown a preference for larger blades because they’re more economical.

When LM moved to town in June 1999, most blades it built were just short of 100 feet. Over the next several years, LM will have to go to 200 feet.

It’s a challenge to fit the fiberglass molds for those blades in the space available and also a challenge to find land to store the blades, Burga said. The company makes blades year-round, but wind farms don’t install them until the summer construction season, he said.

Denmark-based LM has 10 plants worldwide, two of them in the U.S.

It accounts for a quarter of world production, Burga said. Within LM, the Grand Forks plant has grown in importance. In 2005, it accounted for one-tenth of the company’s revenues, and it’s now close to double that. Productivity here, he said, has been exceptional.