ENID, Okla. — Ground officially broke Thursday morning on a wind service provider’s new remanufacturing facility.

Leadership teams from Renew Energy, TP&L Management Solutions, Global Specialized Services and Takkion, as well as local officials including Enid Mayor George Pankonin and Autry Technology Center’s Superintendent/CEO Dwight Hughes, gathered at the site, 301 Raleigh, for the groundbreaking ceremony.

Travis Harkins, COO of Renew — which is, along with TP&L and GSS, a subsidiary of Takkion — said the new state-of-the-art facility will be the “first of its kind in many ways.”

“With this facility, we’ll be able to support our customers with their initiatives to meet their goals and lower their carbon footprint with renewable energy,” Harkins said. “This is all possible due to the strategic location — being in the heart of the North American wind corridor — partnering with our sister companies … and the Enid community and our customers.”

Harkins said the 35,000-square-foot facility will have a capacity of up to seven megawatts — the Sioux Falls, S.D., Renew facility can house up to three megawatts — and will be positioned to accommodate larger wind turbine platforms.

“The turbines that we’re putting in the ground now are in the five megawatt class,” he said. “We’re looking at putting six megawatt-class turbines going forward, so we wanted to position ourselves well with having additional capacity for the future. That’s where the seven megawatts comes into play.”

City Manager Jerald Gilbert said the city of Enid is happy to support Renew’s new facility.

“It’s a fantastic thing for Enid,” he said.

About one year’s worth of planning went into the project, Harkins said, and the groundbreaking ceremony reflects on that while also kicking off the construction, which will take about one year to complete.

Next steps in the construction process include civil activities and preparing the ground, and structural steel for the building will arrive in February.

In June, Enid City Commission unanimously approved two ordinances to create TIF district No. 9 and extend the 10-year term on TIF district No. 7, both in an eastern area of Enid.

As part of those agreements, the city of Enid will reconstruct Raleigh Road from U.S. 412 south to the end of the old Chesterfield Cylinder building — an estimated cost of $1.3 million.

Gilbert said the road’s reconstruction likely will come after the new Renew facility is built.

Takkion, which is a renewable energy service provider, will receive a roughly $500,000 rebate using 65% of generated TIF revenue to cover the state’s inventory tax.

There will be about 45 full-time positions once the Renew facility is operational for the first year, and Harkins said in a couple of years, 45 more full-time positions will be created once there’s a night shift.

Also, Renew is discussing a partnership with Autry Tech regarding training opportunities for new employees, Harkins said.

“We just greatly appreciate the support from the Enid community,” Harkins said. “It’s been a welcoming experience for us.”

Article by: Kelci McKendrick – Enid News & Eagle