While wind energy companies have already invested millions of dollars on Arkansas factories to produce turbines and blades - and recruited suppliers to open shops nearby - they say what they really need are federal policies to assure their survival.

Nordex USA is holding a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at its wind turbine plant in Jonesboro, a $40 million investment that's expected to grow to more than $100 million when it adds a windmill blade section. The plant is set to ultimately employ 750 people.

At an American Wind Association forum Thursday in Little Rock, Nordex USA President and CEO Ralf Sigrist said the industry needs the federal government to require that power companies use wind to produce a significant percentage of their electricity.

"Tax incentives have helped the industry, but they have only been for one, two or three years, not for an extended period," Sigrist said.

A House bill would require that 20 percent of U.S. electricity be generated by wind by 2020, and a Senate version would require 15 percent by 2021.

"Congress has to let the industry know we're in this for the long haul," Gov. Mike Beebe said.

While Arkansas is outside the main wind corridors of the Midwest and West, manufacturers have come to the state because it is nearby. Arkansas Economic Development Director Maria Haley said she has been recruiting suppliers to the state to help broaden the economic impact of the industry.

"I'm hopeful the world is ... seeing what has happened in the last 2 1/2 years" in the wind sector in Arkansas, Haley said.

Randy Fox, general manager of LM Glasfiber North America, said his company has produced more than 1,000 windmill blades since starting production last year in Little Rock.

The operation laid off 150 workers this year after orders plunged because of the credit crunch and the recession. But Fox said almost all them have been asked to return to fill jobs that came open through normal attrition. The company has more than 300 workers and plans to expand once the economy improves.

Fox said Glasfiber has the potential to construct seven more production buildings in Little Rock and anticipates that the business will grow in the years ahead. The state has tied tax incentives to the company employing 1,100 workers by 2014 and investing $150 million. Glasfiber has already spent more than $100 million on two plants, one on the south side of the city and its main site at the Port of Little Rock.

Nordex plans to build a blade plant in 2011 and be in production the following year, and until then will buy some from Glasfiber. Sigrist said turbines should be shipping from Jonesboro in early 2011, when the company expects a surge in demand concurrent with an economic recovery.

Once the power is generated, the industry must find a way to effectively deliver it from rural areas where winds blow strongest to cities, where most of it is used.

"We don't have a good way to do it yet," said Susan Williams Sloan, a coordinator for the American Wind Association.