By Daniel Brock
dbrock@scbiznews.com
Published March 10, 2010

Local leaders say the arrival of German-based alternative energy company IMO Group could mean much more to the region than its initial promise of $47 million in capital investment and 190 jobs in Dorchester County.

IMO Group, a manufacturer of parts used in such applications as wind turbines and tunneling equipment, announced Tuesday that the Charleston area will be home to its American subsidiary, IMO USA Corp. The company brings with it a cash influx and much-needed jobs.

But IMO’s presence could have far-reaching effects in the Lowcountry, according to area officials, who are trumpeting the company’s arrival as the beginning of a “wind energy cluster.”

“Companies are excited to invest here that might not have thought of the region before,” David Ginn, president and CEO of the Charleston Regional Development Alliance said at Tuesday's announcement.

Wind energy is an emerging industry in the United States. Federal officials have predicted that $175 billion will be invested nationally in related enterprises over the next 20 years.

IMO is the first business whose arrival can be credited at least in part to the recent announcement that Clemson University Restoration Institute will build a $98 million state-of-the-art wind turbine drivetrain testing facility on the former Navy base in North Charleston.

The facility, funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, is expected to create hundreds of jobs and place one of the nation’s most important sites for wind energy research and development in the tri-county area.

And, according to local officials, it’s now yielded its initial dividends.

“The tie-in to Clemson helped land the project,” said Dorchester County administrator Jason Ward.

IMO officials said they had been looking for a site near a seaport on the East Coast, close to a major airport, that could provide a move-in ready facility and a prepared work force.

The Lowcountry offered all of those things, plus the drivetrain testing facility and proximity to one of IMO’s biggest customers, General Electric, IMO said.

“Pretty much that will be a competitive advantage,” said Markus Hackner, business development manager for IMO USA, said of the company’s location near the Restoration Institute.

Hackner said he expects more businesses to follow in IMO's footsteps.

“They’ll definitely have to come to be close to the drivetrain testing facility,” he said.

Local and IMO officials said they had been working to bring the company here for about six months, a quick turnaround for this type of deal.

“Charleston’s strong port coupled with its strengthening profile in alternative energy gave us complete confidence in our decision to come here,” Rudiger Unverzagt, CEO of IMO USA, said in a statement.

Company officials said they hoped to have the business up and running by July in a vacant, 40,000-square-foot building in the McQueen Industrial Park in Dorchester County.

“It’s been a while since we stood on this side of the podium,” said Dorchester County Council Chairman Jamie Feltner, who has watched neighboring counties and municipalities attract new businesses in recent years.

Feltner added that he thought Dorchester County would be making more announcements like Tuesday’s in the near future, but he declined to comment on anything specifically.

At the announcement Tuesday, Unverzagt said the hiring process for the facility will start “tomorrow.”

“That’s not a joke,” he added, saying that the company’s first recruitment meetings will take place today.

Like fellow recent arrival Boeing, IMO will partner with work force training programs such as ReadySC to find qualified workers.

Employees at the plant will work on smaller bearings for six to eight months before moving to the company’s primary products, slewing rings and slew drives, which are used to help wind turbine blades rotate, among other applications. Eventually, the company said, the plant will also produce several solar products.

Ginn said he felt that Boeing and IMO shared more than training programs.

“I think this parallels the Boeing announcement,” Ginn said on Tuesday. “And it (the drivetrain facility) will serve as an anchor for the wind energy industry.”

Restoration Institute officials were elated by Tuesday’s announcement.

“We have everyone, from grass-roots support to state lawmakers, behind us,” said Elizabeth Colbert-Bush, director of business development at the institute. “This industry is ours (the state’s) to lose.”

Gov. Mark Sanford, who voted against funding for the drivetrain facility, was in attendance at the announcement. He said that IMO’s presence “cemented” the relationship between Germany and South Carolina, which is also home to a BMW plant and a recently announced MTU Detroit Diesel facility in Aiken.

“South Carolina is well-known throughout Germany as a good place to do business,” Unverzagt said.

Reach Daniel Brock at 843-849-3144.