A Michigan company is proposing to build a new foundry to produce iron components for wind turbines, and has been awarded state and federal grants to develop the project. URV USA LLC, Rochester, MI, would produce parts for turbines at a foundry to be built near Astraeus Wind Energy Inc., a joint venture that will produce carbon-fiber composite windmill blades in Eaton Rapids, MI.
The cost and schedule for the foundry project have not been reported.
URV USA is a subsidiary of URV Foundry, which produces ductile and gray iron castings at Uusikaupunki, Finland, for heavy machinery OEMs, including wind turbine builders. The company’s web site indicates it produces large-scale castings
Last week the Michigan company was awarded a $3.5-million grant from the state’s Clean Energy Advanced Manufacturing initiative, and a further $500,000 from federal stimulus funding, for a project forecast to create 100 “clean energy” jobs.
UV USA’s award was among nine grants made by Michigan last week, from a program funded by the federal Recovery Act.
"The URV has some technologies that make it best-in-class from a casting standpoint," said Jeff Metts, president of Astraeus and Dowding Industries. "It will be highly competitive with the Chinese, and when we put our machining together with that foundry, it will allow us to compete with anyone in the world."
Dowding Industries produces progressive die stampings, metal fabrications, and welded assemblies in short- to medium-runs. Its joint-venture partner in Astraeus is MAG Industrial Automation Systems, which is developing large-scale systems for machining carbon-fiber blades, hubs, and other turbine components.