With the help of newly acquired assets from ePower LLC of Lunenburg, Denmark-based wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems is opening a new research and development center in MetroWest.
Vestas Technology R&D Americas Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vestas Wind Systems, will develop generators, converters and control technology for “next generation” wind turbines at the new facility.
State officials said Vestas’ presence, along with the recently federally chartered Wind Technology Testing Center in Boston, has the state “poised to become a national leader in wind technology.”
The facility will work with existing Vestas technology centers in Texas, Asia, India and Europe. The company has been on a worldwide building blitz this year.
Vestas said it was attracted to Massachusetts by the “well qualified team of experts” at ePower, an electric motor manufacturer that began as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinoff, and by the strong scientific and engineering community in the state. It was reported that the company chose MetroWest over competing locations in Colorado, where it already has manufacturing facilities.
The company also said it would build a 500,000-square-foot American headquarters in Portland, Ore.
