Thursday, December 16, 2010
Moses Lake Makes Forbes List
Forbes Magazine names Moses Lake 8th fastest-growing small town in America. Article
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Gov. Gregoire says BMW's Moses Lake factory may double in size, jobs
(Headline in Seattle Times this morning.)
SEATTLE —
A new carbon fiber plant being built in Moses Lake could become the largest facility of its kind in the world because of strong demand for the composites by German carmaker BMW AG, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Friday.
Check out the full story here.
The Governor is in Germany hobnobbing with BMW. They believe all vehicles will be made of carbon fiber in the near future.
When you read between the lines of the statements BMW has made about this project, you get the sense that:
- BMW sees carbon fiber as the material of the future,
- BMW is developing a core competency and infrastructure for carbon fiber, of which the Moses Lake plant will be a significant part, and
- BMW's vision may go beyond using this stuff just for its own vehicles; it may envision selling carbon fiber to other car makers and maybe even to other industries as well.
In other words, carbon fiber is the building material of the 21st century, and Moses Lake will be a carbon fiber capital of the world. Exciting!
SEATTLE —
A new carbon fiber plant being built in Moses Lake could become the largest facility of its kind in the world because of strong demand for the composites by German carmaker BMW AG, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Friday.
Check out the full story here.
The Governor is in Germany hobnobbing with BMW. They believe all vehicles will be made of carbon fiber in the near future.
When you read between the lines of the statements BMW has made about this project, you get the sense that:
- BMW sees carbon fiber as the material of the future,
- BMW is developing a core competency and infrastructure for carbon fiber, of which the Moses Lake plant will be a significant part, and
- BMW's vision may go beyond using this stuff just for its own vehicles; it may envision selling carbon fiber to other car makers and maybe even to other industries as well.
In other words, carbon fiber is the building material of the 21st century, and Moses Lake will be a carbon fiber capital of the world. Exciting!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Grapes
The vines won't be mature for a couple more years, so I snip the fruit clusters in early summer so they don't divert energy from the vine. But I left a few to ripen, so I could taste 'em!
Vines in Full Glory
Last day of August. No more watering from now on. We'll drain the system and let the vines beging the process of lignification and hardening for winter.
Monday, July 12, 2010
BMW Plant Breaks Ground in Moses Lake
MOSES LAKE — BMW’s Megacity Vehicle begins in Moses Lake with a new carbon fiber plant, a company official said Wednesday.
“What you’re seeing today, are new and innovative ideas, to make carbon fiber for a car that’s never existed,” said Kenn Sparks, a media relations manager for BMW Group. “I think you would be proud to say that, in a lot of ways, it really does begin here.”
The groundbreaking for BMW/SGL Group’s carbon fiber plant was celebrated Wednesday with more than 90 dignitaries attending.
Hiring for about 80 permanent employees begins in 2011 and should increase to 200 full-time positions.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Farmer's Daughter
Quinci helped me out with some late pruning, and I gave her driving lessons around the property. Surreal to see her driving off in my pickup.
We had a great day.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Spring Cleaning in the Vineyard
Esteban, Gilbert & I (mostly them) have spent the past several weeks cleaning up the rows, getting the rocks out of the isles, smoothing rough spots, burning tumbleweeds, weeding the rows, and digging holes for 400 additional plants (target planting date April 9.) The site looks great.
I'm going to do a late pruning to better assess winter die-back, and to make sure we get through the last of frost season first.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Moses Lake Wins BMW Carbon-Fiber Factory
BMW and another German company have chosen Moses Lake as the site for a new plant to manufacture carbon fibers to use in building lightweight cars.
By Eric Pryne
Seattle Times business reporter
March 26, 2010
BMW and another German company have chosen Moses Lake as the site for a new plant to manufacture carbon fibers to use in building lightweight cars.
Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled to speak at a news conference April 6 in Seattle that also will feature top executives of BMW and SGL Group, which last fall established a joint venture to produce carbon fibers and fabric for the auto industry.
The news-conference notice did not reveal the subject, and an SGL spokeswoman did not return calls Friday.
But Gregoire spokeswoman Karina Shagren said the governor has courted the companies personally and, "We anticipate a positive announcement."
The joint venture also has been considering a site in Canada for the fiber plant.
Gregoire met with company officials in November, and again in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, Shagren said. Members of the governor's staff and state Commerce Department officials have been in "constant contact" with SGL and BMW, she added.
Moses Lake City Manager Joe Gavinski said he did not know if the companies had chosen his city. "They haven't told us anything," he said.
Moses Lake has several advantages, Gavinski said, including low-cost electricity, an abundance of available land, a big airport and proximity to Interstate 90.
The number of workers the plant will employ wasn't immediately known. But any new jobs would be welcome in Grant County, where the unemployment rate was 13.6 percent in February, according to the state Department of Employment Security.
When they announced their joint venture last October, SGL, which makes carbon-based products, and BMW said a new factory in North America would make fibers that would be woven into fabrics at a new factory in Germany.
They said the construction of the plants would start in 2010, and the two factories would employ a total of 180 workers. They also said the North American plant would use hydropower, a commodity Moses Lake and Grant County enjoy in abundance thanks to Columbia River dams.
BMW's chairman said the automaker planned to use the carbon fabrics in its Megacity hybrid car, expected to reach the market in the next few years.
Panels made from carbon-fiber composites are built up from layers of such fabric and then are baked to hardness. Composites are used to make the fuselage and wings of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
State and local governments have offered the plant — code-named "Project Chinook" — incentives to locate in Moses Lake. In January the state Community Economic Revitalization Board approved a $1.5 million loan and a $500,000 grant to the Port of Moses Lake to help build a substation to provide power to the factory.
The money was contingent on the plant being built, said Matt Ojennus, the board's interim program manager.
The state also is considering subsidizing worker training, said Susan St. Germain, senior business-development manager for the state Department of Commerce.
By Eric Pryne
Seattle Times business reporter
March 26, 2010
BMW and another German company have chosen Moses Lake as the site for a new plant to manufacture carbon fibers to use in building lightweight cars.
Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled to speak at a news conference April 6 in Seattle that also will feature top executives of BMW and SGL Group, which last fall established a joint venture to produce carbon fibers and fabric for the auto industry.
The news-conference notice did not reveal the subject, and an SGL spokeswoman did not return calls Friday.
But Gregoire spokeswoman Karina Shagren said the governor has courted the companies personally and, "We anticipate a positive announcement."
The joint venture also has been considering a site in Canada for the fiber plant.
Gregoire met with company officials in November, and again in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, Shagren said. Members of the governor's staff and state Commerce Department officials have been in "constant contact" with SGL and BMW, she added.
Moses Lake City Manager Joe Gavinski said he did not know if the companies had chosen his city. "They haven't told us anything," he said.
Moses Lake has several advantages, Gavinski said, including low-cost electricity, an abundance of available land, a big airport and proximity to Interstate 90.
The number of workers the plant will employ wasn't immediately known. But any new jobs would be welcome in Grant County, where the unemployment rate was 13.6 percent in February, according to the state Department of Employment Security.
When they announced their joint venture last October, SGL, which makes carbon-based products, and BMW said a new factory in North America would make fibers that would be woven into fabrics at a new factory in Germany.
They said the construction of the plants would start in 2010, and the two factories would employ a total of 180 workers. They also said the North American plant would use hydropower, a commodity Moses Lake and Grant County enjoy in abundance thanks to Columbia River dams.
BMW's chairman said the automaker planned to use the carbon fabrics in its Megacity hybrid car, expected to reach the market in the next few years.
Panels made from carbon-fiber composites are built up from layers of such fabric and then are baked to hardness. Composites are used to make the fuselage and wings of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
State and local governments have offered the plant — code-named "Project Chinook" — incentives to locate in Moses Lake. In January the state Community Economic Revitalization Board approved a $1.5 million loan and a $500,000 grant to the Port of Moses Lake to help build a substation to provide power to the factory.
The money was contingent on the plant being built, said Matt Ojennus, the board's interim program manager.
The state also is considering subsidizing worker training, said Susan St. Germain, senior business-development manager for the state Department of Commerce.
Friday, January 8, 2010
BMW Parts Supplier Coming to Moses Lake?
Friday, January 8, 2010
Grant County makes secret bid for BMW plant, is in the race for $200M auto-part factory
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Steve Wilhelm Staff Writer
Thanks in large part to its inexpensive, carbon-neutral hydropower, Grant County is in the running to win a $200 million factory to make carbon-fiber material for next-generation electric BMW cars.
The factory, expected to cover 200,000 square feet and employ 180 people, would be built later this year on land outside Moses Lake, officials said. Moses Lake is competing against another location, probably in Canada, and a decision is expected this month, perhaps as early as this week.
The factory would be built as part of a joint venture between German luxury automaker BMW Group and SGL Group, a $2.3 billion German maker of carbon-based products.
The plant would be the first to bring major automotive-related production to the state. If successful, it could attract other automotive-related plants keen to use inexpensive hydropower generated by dams controlled by the Grant County Public Utility District.
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