Governor in Muskegon to help launch wind-turbine business

Friday, Oct 31, 2008

With Gov. Jennifer Granholm at his side, a forward-thinking West Michigan business leader inaugurated a next-generation alternative energy business Monday with a small wind turbine that sits atop the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Muskegon.

Granholm touted the Swift Wind Turbine -- developed by Cascade Engineering and President Fred Keller in conjunction with Renewable Devices of Edinburgh, Scotland -- as one of the alternative energy products produced in Michigan that will become the state's economic future.

Keller introduced the Swift turbines at national product launch in the Frauenthal Center. This is the first celebration of a Michigan-made wind turbine being installed in Michigan,"" Granholm said in the lobby of the Frauenthal behind a real-time, flat-panel readout of how the Swift was producing electricity on the theater's roof. Cascade Engineering is a traditional automotive plastics part company that employs 1,000 people in more than a half-dozen locations worldwide, including its headquarters on 36th Street in Kentwood. The company has moved into non-automotive manufacturing sectors including waste disposal and alternative energy.

The Swift turbine operation currently employs 15 people. The North American units are assembled here along with all of the rotor blades for the units sold worldwide, company officials said.

Source: MLive