Green manufacturing strong in North Carolina

When Saertex USA opened in Huntersville in 2001, the maker of composites used in the construction of wind-turbine blades had but one employee and one client— Enron Corp.

Enron’s failure is now the stuff of American business lore, but Saertex USA survived to rank among the region’s largest companies in the energy sector. It’s growing in an otherwise sluggish manufacturing environment because of its green sheen.

“You name the big wind-energy manufacturers — Siemens, Clipper Windpower, Enercon — we supply to them,” says Chris Kissinger, Saertex USA’s general manager. “In a classical sense, we are a textile manufacturer and are bringing textiles back to the Carolinas.”

Today, Saertex is the world’s largest manufacturer of non-crimp fabrics, which are made from glass or carbon fibers. The fabric is used to make structural components of wind-turbine blades.

With revenue of $65 million and 180 employees in Huntersville, Saertex fuels optimism brewing nationwide about the power of green technology to fuel manufacturing revenue and jobs. A General Electric Co.-sponsored survey of 360 industry executives found 90% of U.S. business leaders believe green technology and the energy industry will power manufacturing in coming years.

Manufacturing accounts for 21% of the clean-energy jobs in the state, or 3,071 full-time jobs, according to the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association.

Research and development, which is closely related to manufacturing, ranks second, with 20 percent of the state’s clean-energy jobs counted in the annual survey.

Read more in the Charlotte Business Journal.