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Ingeteam, the Spanish wind power company that broke ground last year on a plant in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley, is gearing up to begin production at the facility.

Early next week, the company will be announcing the wind power generators and convertors it plans to manufacture at the plant at the American Wind Energy Association’s annual trade show in California.

Rendering of Milwaukee Ingeteam plant

According to a news release from Ingeteam, “This new plant will start its activity in the energy sector in the next months with the manufacture of wind generators and converters, as well as photovoltaic inverters, to cover the needs of the North American market.”

The company says it has invested about 12 million Euros (about $17 million U.S. dollars) in the new Milwaukee plant, which spans 120,000 square feet.

Ingeteam is one of the world’s largest wind energy firms. In addition to making wind turbine components, it maintains and operates about 2,200 turbines in 64 wind farms worldwide. It recently opened new production facilities in Brazil and China.

The new one in Milwaukee, its first in the U.S., is to serve as the hub of the company’s North American operations.

But demand for its products in Wisconsin could be affected by Gov. Scott Walker’s policies on wind turbine siting. Earlier this year, Walker and Republicans in the state Legislature stopped new statewide siting rules from taking effect.

The rules – required under legislation passed under Gov. Jim Doyle in 2009 – would have overridden all such local rules requiring setbacks from houses or other buildings. These local rules were often more strict that the setbacks proposed by the state and were impeding wind farm projects, proponents say. But opponents say turbines are a major source of noise pollution.

A few companies have called off wind farm projects in the state, citing the defeat of the siting rules, including ones near Green Bay and Dodge and Fond du Lac counties.

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