German Wind Energy Company Locating in Estherville

Upon being introduced to a German wind energy company over four years ago at the nation’s largest wind energy trade show in Dallas, the company has chosen to locate in the Iowa Lakes Corridor.  windtest of Grevenbroich, Germany, has established their North American company and opening their North American headquarters in Estherville, Iowa this summer.  Kathy Evert, President and CEO of the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation, is very excited about this decision for the region and for Iowa.

windtest, in the market since 1996, has established itself internationally as an accredited measuring and testing institute and made its name worldwide as an independent evaluator and service provider in the wind energy sector. windtest is accredited according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025; and a member of MEASNET.

windtest north america (wtna) is a new player in the “windy area” of the Midwest, the Iowa Lakes Corridor. wtna is a technical service provider for the renewables, having its office close to the wind energy building at Iowa Lakes Community College in Estherville.  wtna is a reliable partner for testing and measuring as well as investment services, expert opinions and consulting services for turbine manufacturers, project developers, wind farm investors and lenders, owners and operators, plus grid operators.

“I have attended the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) trade show every year since 2006 and watched it explode and now contract in the last eight years,” said Kathy Evert, president of the Iowa lakes Corridor Development Corporation. “When in Chicago five years ago, I made a cold call on a California company who in turn introduced us the following year to windtest.  We provided them some background information on the area, scheduled a trip to meet them in Germany that fall, met them each year at AWEA, hosted them in the Corridor region several times since 2011, and now they will be our newest international company and employer,” said Evert. “We couldn’t be happier to have worked with them and thank them for choosing Estherville and the Iowa Lakes Corridor.”

President and CEO Monika Kraemer said “Many great thanks to everyone in Estherville and surroundings for their fantastic support within the last 4 years during the development and foundation of our new subisidiary windtest north-america, inc. We are very happy and extremely proud to open our office in the great new SERT building at the Iowa Lakes Community College. The cooperation of windtest and the College makes us look ahead in a very positive way. As Iowa is one of the windiest American states with the best political conditions, we are very happy to be part of the wind energy community of Iowa from now on.”

The windtest office will be officially opened upon the Iowa Lakes Community College completing their new sustainable energy resource technology (SERT) facility in August.  windtest north america personnel are planning to be in attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony in late August. For more information about windtest north america, visit http://www.windtest-northamerica.com or contact Jasmin Holzinger, info@windtest-northamerica.com.