Bridgeton company provides carbon fibers to builders of wind turbines, which produce energy from a renewable source.

By Mary Jo Feldstein

Improvements in wind energy are making it an increasingly cost-efficient renewable resource, and a local company wants to take advantage of the trend.

Opponents say building massive windmill farms is still too expensive and the turbines are too ugly. Still, many energy and environmental experts consider wind energy the most competitive renewable resource. The Energy Department wants the United States to obtain 5 percent of its electricity from wind by 2020. In Europe and Asia, the transition to wind and other renewable energy sources is moving even faster.

Zoltek Cos. of Bridgeton hopes this trend continues. It recently signed a contract to become the exclusive provider of carbon fiber to Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark, the world's largest maker of wind turbines. The contract assumes sales of $80 million to $100 million over three years. Zoltek had revenue of $45.3 million in 2004.

Zoltek Chief Executive Zsolt Rumy said the contract with Vestas, announced in December, took two to three years to bring to completion.

Zoltek's stock price immediately began to climb on the news. Shares of Zoltek have closed mostly in the mid-teens since the announcement on Dec. 16. They had closed at $10.15 the day before.

Zoltek also is in negotiations with other turbine makers to supply them with carbon fibers, Rumy said. The company has begun a three-year capacity expansion program to handle growing demand from the wind industry.

"It's definitely a growing business," Rumy said. "It could be the first really major breakthrough in commercial (carbon fiber) applications."

As wind turbine technology advances, scientists are finding longer, lighter turbine blades can produce more energy cheaper than shorter blades. Lightweight, sturdy carbon fiber, Zoltek's primary product, excels in this application.

Energy giant General Electric Co. entered the wind-energy industry by purchasing a division of the bankrupt Enron Corp. at a rock-bottom price.

It's experimenting with using carbon fibers and expects the wind energy industry to grow substantially in the coming years. GE composites team leader Scott Finn said carbon fiber, with its light weight, would be a natural materials choice as blades grow bigger.

"The length of the blades is the dominant factor that determines how much energy you can extract out of one turbine," Finn said. "Make the blade twice as long, you can capture four times as much energy."

But both Zoltek and wind energy have faced setbacks in the past.

Revenues at Zoltek are increasing and operating losses are decreasing, but the company hasn't reported a profit in five years.

Zoltek struggled to find a market for its carbon fibers after the aerospace industry slowed. It has tried to sell its commercial carbon fibers to several industries, ranging from automotive to mattresses. Sales haven't met expectations.

Wind energy has faced similar setbacks. Proposed wind farms typically face opposition by local residents, and government support has been inconsistent.

Robert L. Bradley Jr., an adjunct professor at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, opposes wind energy. He said it is the most likely renewable energy source to replace fossil fuels in the making of electricity. But he said it remains economically inefficient, despite heavy subsidies from ratepayers and taxpayers.

"Second, from an environmental viewpoint, wind farms are noisy, land intensive, unsightly and hazardous to birds, including endangered species," Bradley wrote in "Renewable Energy: Not Cheap, Not Green," a policy analysis for Cato.

Estimates of the cost of wind energy differ, depending on the size and efficiency of the wind turbines being used.

The American Wind Energy Association estimates the cost of electricity from utility-scale wind systems has dropped by 80 percent in the last 20 years. The trade association for the wind energy industry says state-of-the-art wind power plants can generate electricity for prices that are competitive with new coal- or gas-fired power plants.

Locally, the Alberici Group, a construction company based in Overland, recently added a windmill to its new headquarters. The company justified the purchase by thinking of it as part of a complete energy-efficiency system. And, being more green is helping attract customers interested in similar buildings, said Thomas Taylor, vice president for special projects at Alberici.