Milwaukee was selected from a field of more than 80 sites to be the home of a new North American production plant by Ingeteam, a Spanish wind turbine company.

Ingeteam confirmed this morning it will construct a $15 million, 100,000-square-foot facility in Milwaukee's Menomonee River Valley. The complex will span about 8.1 acres at 3757 W. Milwaukee Road at a site that is south of a new Charter Wire plant.

Ingeteam, headquartered in Bilbao, Spain, said it will begin construction of the complex in April, with completion set for December.

The company expects to begin manufacturing operations in January 2011 and will employ about 275 workers by 2015.

This will be Ingeteam's first manufacturing facility in the United States.

Milwaukee was chosen to be the site of the new plant after a coordinated effort that included officials from the Milwaukee 7 economic development team, We Energies, Milwaukee City Development Commissioner Richard "Rocky" Marcoux and Wisconsin Commerce Secretary Richard "Dick" Leinenkugel, who went to Spain to seal the deal.

When completed, the plant will focus primarily on the renewable energy industry, producing Indar wind power generators and Ingeteam converters and solar power inverters for the North American market.

"They could have located this $15 million facility anywhere in the nation. Believe me, Michigan tried very hard," Leinenkugel said.

"The Menomonee Valley was once Wisconsin's largest brownfield," said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. "Now, the valley is home to businesses that employ thousands of people."

The deal was made possible by $1.6 million in tax credits through the federal stimulus program, up to $4.5 million in state tax credits and another $500,000 forgivable loan from the state.

"The tax incentives tied to the creation jobs is a key component of our vision," said Barrett, who is running to be Wisconsin's next governor.

"After carefully analyzing our company's needs, we selected Milwaukee for our new production facility because the city is conveniently located for distribution of our products and has a solid industrial base from which Ingeteam can source materials," said Ander Gandiaga, Ingeteam's corporate director for international development.

"Milwaukee also has a labor pool experienced in electrical manufacturing. In addition, the area boasts prestigious universities with some of the highest-ranked engineering departments in the country that offer specific courses in renewable energy, which will be very useful when it comes to finding specialized staff," said Aitor Sotes, chief executive officer of Ingeteam Inc., Ingeteam's subsidiary in the United States.

Gandiaga also said City of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin officials "made an impressive effort to sell Ingeteam on the virtues of locating in this community. The Ingeteam project perfectly fits the model of the clean energy economy and job creation goals that the city and state are pursuing."

Ingeteam already has an office in Mequon that has provided operations management and maintenance services for United States wind turbine farms since 2008.

The company currently has a 12- to 15-percent worldwide market share of wind power components. However, Ingeteam has identified the United States as a growth market for wind energy and expects its global market share to rise by having a U.S.-based manufacturing operation to supply the North American market.

At full capacity, the Milwaukee plant will supply equipment capable of producing 7,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity each year.

The Milwaukee plant will produce generators and converters for 1.5 MW to 5 MW wind turbines, and solar power inverters that range from 2.5 kilowatt (kW) units for residential use up to 500 kW units for utility-scale installations. Later, Ingeteam plans to add a facility for system testing.

In addition, the new plant is expected to produce motors, generators and converters for the other markets in which the company is active - railway, marine, combined heat and power generation, hydraulic equipment and the iron and steel industry.

The new facility will also provide better access to North American markets for Indar Maquinas Hidraulicas (Indar MH), an Ingeteam company that designs and manufactures large submersible pumps. Indar MH has been very active commercially in the United States market since 2003.