A maker of blades for wind turbines is moving its headquarters from Long Beach to Huntington Beach.
Modular Wind Energy Inc., which doesn’t have a website and shies away from media coverage, is relocating its offices and expanding production in a 167,778-square-foot industrial building in Huntington Beach.
The five-year lease is valued at about $5 million, making it one of the larger deals this year in West County.
Modular Wind declined to comment on how many jobs it’s bringing to Huntington Beach or how many people it might hire.
The company is in “deep” product development, according to Chief Operating Officer Cory Arendt, who declined to elaborate beyond that.
“At this stage there’s some secrecy to what we’re doing,” he said. “We’re not sharing a lot right now.”
According to patent information and limited background from company officials, Modular Wind has developed an approach to building wind turbine blades that are cheaper, faster and easier to transport.
The lightweight blades are supported by rib-shaped panels and a series of triangular support structures covered in fiberglass.
Turbines convert energy from wind into mechanical power, which can be used by a generator or for specific tasks, such as pumping water.
Demand for more affordable energy and less fossil fuel consumption spurred the company’s expansion, according to Chief Executive Myles Baker.
“We are in the process of ramping up commercial production,” Baker said. “At this time, it is premature to discuss the details. But we see the wind energy industry as having tremendous growth opportunities and are happy to be bringing some of that growth to the area.”
Executives at Modular Wind bring experience designing blades for aircraft carriers and the military to the startup.
For 10 years, Baker managed Boeing Co.’s structural loads and optimization group in Long Beach that supported commercial and military aircraft programs. He also has taught airplane structural design courses at University of California, Irvine, and University of California, Los Angeles.
In 2001, Baker founded M4 Engineering Inc. in Long Beach. The engineering analysis and consulting firm has done work for the military, NASA’s Langley Research Center and the top names in the industry, including Boeing, Northrop Grumman Corp. and Smiths Aerospace LLC, which became a GE Aviation subsidiary in 2007.
Arendt also is chief operating officer of M4.
Yearly global sales for the turbine industry are estimated at about $80 billion, according to Cleveland-based Freedonia Group Inc. It sees demand rising about 5% percent annually through 2012.
Much of the industry’s sales have been in Germany, which tailored incentives for manufacturers to produce clean energy and take advantage of the country’s natural environment.
New Mexico also has made a name for itself in the industry, as it has the proper climate for steady wind.
But widespread adoption in the U.S. remains elusive.
That’s because producing wind energy systems is expensive. They can be difficult to construct and move.
Towers and blades can easily surpass 120 feet. Transportation can amount to 20% of equipment costs.
Modular Wind has been able to court private backers including Massachusetts venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners. Officials there declined to comment.
Lease
Modular Wind is using its new building at 5800 Skylab Road for manufacturing and distribution of its blades, as well as for administrative offices. The building is part of an industrial park near Boeing’s Huntington Beach operations.
Jeff Shepard and Dillon Dummit of the Newport Beach office of CresaPartners handled the lease for Modular Wind.
Colliers International represented owner Dynamic Cooking Systems, an appliance maker that had operated there. Dynamic’s parent company, DCS Holdings Inc., owns about 300,000 square feet of space in the area.
Dynamic, which makes high-end cooking equipment and outdoor barbecues, left the space about a year ago after it moved some manufacturing to Mexico.
In 2004, DCS was acquired by New Zealand-based Fisher & Paykel Appliances Ltd.
Dynamic made numerous improvements to the building including extensive power and air distribution and a large, private fenced yard, which allowed Modular Wind to immediately move in and begin operations, according to Clyde Stauff, executive vice president in Colliers’ Irvine office.
