COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Metal processing company Worthington Industries Inc. plans to form a joint venture with Gestamp Renewables to make metal towers for wind turbines.
Worthington makes metals products including flat-rolled steel for automakers and metal frames for the construction industry. The company said the joint venture will be called Gestamp Worthington Wind Steel LLC and produce towers primarily for the North American wind turbine market.
Ownership of the new venture will be split 50-50. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The venture will build a production facility on 30 acres in Cheyenne, Wyo. that should employ about 150 people when fully operational.
Worthington said it expects to ship sections for wind turbine towers in the first quarter of 2012, and should produce material for more than 300 towers per year.
Gestamp is part of Corporacion Gestamp, a Spanish industrial holding company focused on industrial steel manufacturing services.