Katana moves into Port of Ephrata

Windmill tower manufacturing company finds city, Port eager to develop

EPHRATA — New winds bode well at the Port of Ephrata.

Katana Industries, Inc. will manufacture windmill towers for power generation in Hangar 304 on Port property.

"The Port of Ephrata was very user-friendly and they just happened to have a great big shop that was sitting empty when we were looking for it," explained Darrell Lehmann, vice president for Katana, a subsidiary of T Bailey, Inc., a heavy civil and industrial general contractor located in Anacortes. "It made sense, because a lot of the market is in eastern Washington and north central Oregon, and we didn't have the room in our Anacortes facility."

Katana will probably add 40 new jobs. Lehmann said that the business has imported a few people, but will primarily draw from the Ephrata area.

"We've had a pretty good response up until now," he said, noting that about 15 positions have been filled. "Like anything, it's skilled craft people, word gets out. Hopefully, we will build it, ad they will come."

Lehmann said he found out about the Port of Ephrata space through the Grant County Economic Development Council's executive director, Terry Brewer.

"I called him because we were looking for a big facility like this, and he said, 'Just so happens the Port of Ephrata has one,'" Lehmann recalled. He called then-Port manager Barbara Deycous, and said she was instrumental in getting things put together.

Deycous retired in April. Katana's lease at the Port started May 1.

"Our whole charter is economic development, so we benefit when the economy develops," Port of Ephrata manager Mike Wren said. "To have a facility this size, it's not good to not have activity going on it."

Wrenm said that other businesses have looked at the Port, noting that he had another inquiry from a business Monday.

He added that Katana Industries will bring in some significant electrical upgrades to the building and will build sandblasting and paint facilities as well.

Lehmann said that there is a significant amount of demand for windmill towers, reverting back to a production tax credit (PTC) given by the government to developers of wind power. That credit periodically expires, and is due to expire at the end of this year. The renewal is part of an energy bill in Congress right now.

"If (it) is renewed, then there's more demand than there is supply," Lehmann said. "If it's not renewed, all these projects come to a screeching halt and you will sit with a plant like this with absolutely nothing to do in it, which has been kind of the bane of the industry if you will, as it's either feast or famine."

This year, with the tax credit currently in effect, there is more need than there is capacity, Lehmann said. Some projects in eastern Washington would be going forward, but there is no turbine to supply them, and Katana tries to follow those, tempering its business with other work, like large diameter pipes and the like, he explained.

"This facility would probably lay fallow until it's renewed, and it will be renewed —everyone knows that," he said, noting that people have not stopped using electricity. "The novelty has worn off in the wind power; these are serious machines now, so they are actually cost-effective, even with the production tax credit not in place. However, with the PTC in place, it's extremely lucrative for developers to manufacture electricity with wind. So I think it's here to stay."

Some of the windmill towers in this year's order will head to Oklahoma and Minnesota, Lehmann said. Next year, there are plans to build for Puget Sound Energy, and two operations along the Columbia River, in Goldendale and in Arlington, Ore. Projects at the ready like those are one reason Katana has positioned itself in Ephrata, he noted.

"The Port of Ephrata has been very helpful, and the same with the building department in the city of Ephrata," Lehmann said. "Everybody is eager to make things happen, get some jobs in here and get the space rented. It's kind of a refreshing attitude, coming from over on the other side of the mountains."