Broadwind making more wind towers

Broadwind Energy Inc. has been selected to produce more wind towers in Manitowoc and Abilene, Texas, under a recent order announced by the Illinois company.

The order is valued at $23 million.

The company said it has booked more than $250 million in tower orders so far this year, as the wind energy sector invests heavily in new projects.

Broadwind, based in Cicero, Ill., makes steel towers for wind turbines around the country.

The Texas factory serves the nation’s biggest market for wind power, where more than 5,000 megawatts of wind power are under construction, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

The Manitowoc factory serves Iowa, a state that gets 35% of its electricity from wind energy, and investments are continuing. Both MidAmerican Energy Co. and Madison-based Alliant Energy Corp. this year have announced major expansions in wind energy development in Iowa. Other key wind generation states include Minnesota and Illinois, currently ranked fifth and third in total wind power installed to date.

Broadwind said its new orders are planned for production and shipment in 2017.

For the first nine months of the year, Broadwind sold 339 towers, down from 357 in the same period last year. But orders for future towers to be built by Broadwind jumped sharply in the third quarter, to $24 million from $3 million in last year’s third quarter.

The company is seeing lower sales in part because of the impact of declining steel prices.