A wind turbine manufacturing plant that recently laid off workers in southeast Iowa is reopening.
Lee County Economic Development Group President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Fraise said the Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy plant in Fort Madison is rehiring and will restart production by the end of the year.
“They are reopening the plant,” Fraise said. “It had been hibernated, as that was the word they used, and so they're starting production again. I think they're bringing people back right now.”
Fraise said the restart is due to new orders and newly passed federal legislation that is helping the company re-establish its business after recent federal regulations and tariffs forced layoffs throughout the industry.
“It's an outgrowth of the passing of the Infrastructure Inflation Reduction acts along with them getting some new orders,” Fraise said. “With those two things combined, they felt confident in their order flow and whether they could reopen the plant.”
Fraise said the southeast Iowa plant will open two production lines, where the company plans to manufacture larger wind turbine blades before the end of this month.
“Siemens has been a great employer in our region for a long time,” he said. “It's nice to see them reopen.”
There is no word on how may will be hired in Fort Madison.
Siemens Gamesa laid off 171 workers from the Fort Madison plant and another 92 workers from its plant in Hutchinson, Kan., in May. The Fort Madison plant also cut 121 jobs last February.
Tri States Public Radio produced this story. TSPR relies on financial support from our readers and listeners in order to provide coverage of the issues that matter to west central Illinois, southeast Iowa, and northeast Missouri. As someone who values the content created by TSPR's news department please consider making a financial contribution.
Copyright 2022 Tri States Public Radio. To see more, visit Tri States Public Radio. 9(MDA5MTc0MDI0MDEzMzE4MjI4ODdlOTk4MA004))