City of Sun Prairie Partners With Wisconsin Wind Works at 8th Annual Green Energy Summit (City of Sun Prairie Office of Economic Development)

City Economic Development Director Neil Stechschulte helped staff the Wisconsin Wind Works table Wednesday at the 8th Annual Green Energy Summit at the Frontier Airlines Center in Milwaukee. Wisconsin Wind Works is a statewide retention & expansion program for companies in the wind industry manufacturing supply chain that was born out of a targeted growth sector of the New North. Specific initiatives have included the development of a directory of more than 300 participating companies in a statewide Supply Chain directory, coordination of advertising opportunities for participants, and hosting a booth at the annual Windpower Expo for partnering Wisconsin companies.

Stechschulte has collaborated with Jerry Murphy from the New North and Fin Flood from the Wisconsin Wind Works Alliance on networking events and marketing efforts since 2009. The City and Wisconsin Wind Works have teamed up in the past to host Wind Power Happy Hours in the Fox Cities and Milwaukee areas, as well as back in Sun Prairie. Other events in the future may be co-hosting a symposium on the wind industry supply chain here in Wisconsin, and perhaps a job fair with companies working in the renewable energy sector.

With regard to the ongoing partnership, Stechschulte said "We share a common goal, and that is to see private sector companies involved in the wind industry manufacturing supply chain thrive here in Wisconsin. There are more and more occasions when combining our efforts and helping one another out just makes sense."

Today's highlights included 1) working with several students from the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), 2) networking with the UW Office of Corporate Relations, RENEW Wisconsin, the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA), and the Wisconsin Energy Research Consortium (WORC), and 3) meeting representatives from companies including Johnson Controls, Uihlein Electric, and LEM U.S.A. Inc.

The City and Wisconsin Wind Works plan to sit down and work out a schedule for 2011 for the Wind Power Happy Hour and intend to release it sometime yet this March.

Click here for additional information on the Green Energy Summit.

Click here for additional information on Wisconsin Wind Works.