Marshall Independent | March 20-21, 2010
by Deb Gau
Since opening its headquarters in Canby, Outland Renewable Energy has spread its wings nationally
What started as a home-grown wind energy developer has become a company with a national reach at Outland Renewable Energy. The conversion of a former implement dealership along Minnesota Highway 68 in Canby into an office, warehouse and shop is only part of the story, said Outland President and COO Steve Scott.
“It has been exceptionally rewarding, being part of something that started from scratch,” Scott said. “And we’ve been working with a great group of people.”
Outland was formed in 2005 by a group of “founding farmers” from the Tracy area, Scott said. The business started with the goal of developing wind farms, but it also expanded into a service business for existing wind turbines.
“We’ve had a pretty good run,” Scott said. He estimated that the whole company has grown from about a dozen employees in 2006 to around 150. That includes staff who work at Outland’s offices in Canby and Eagan, as well as turbine service technicians who travel throughout the country.
In looking for a headquarters for Outland’s field service division, Scott said the company chose a former John Deere dealership. Outland has completed two phases of remodeling on the building, Scott said.
“That was when we established a shop area for working on [wind turbine] gearboxes,” he said. The shop area functions as a “clean room,” although not quite the same kind of clean room used for manufacturing computer chips.
“We just had to have a controlled environment. You don’t want a lot of dust and dirt getting into the garbox bearings,” Scott said. “We have a small group of specialized technicians who work there every day.”
Canby was a good location for a couple of reasons, Scott said. First, Outland would have access to an educated, high quality workforce. Second, “We have pretty much everything we need right here in town.” Overhead costs are low, and with modern communication systems, you don’t need to be in a big city to run a business.
The next phase of expansion at Outland’s Canby location will add more offices to the facility, Scott said.
In the meantime, Outland’s business has grown nationwide. The field service division has been awarded some major service contracts, Scott said.
In the future, he said Outland plans to look into the development and service of solar energy farms as well.
There’s still more room to grow in solar energy, he said.
“Solar farms don’t have to have as heavy an infrastructure, and they have easier maintenance,” Scott said.
“There’s a long-term trend for energy growth.”