At the 64th annual Greater Jobs Inc. meeting on Wednesday, speakers said the Albert Lea economy has been steady during tough economic times and they look toward future economic opportunities.

The 2008 business year was a successful one, said Dan Dorman, executive director of the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency. And while some believe the effects of the economy will impact Albert Lea later, Dorman is confident Albert Lea will continue to miss the economic crunch.

“When I look at the national economy and compare it to ours, I’m cautiously optimistic, primarily because our economy here in Albert Lea is really based on a couple of things: the food industry — food processing and agriculture, and both of those are fairly stable. We may not have huge expansions, but — knock on wood — we don’t have the tremendous layoffs that other communities are seeing,” Dorman said.

While ALEDA will look to attract large, 500-job businesses to Albert Lea, Dorman said it will focus on creating and nurturing small businesses.

“We’ll chase them just like any other city, but we’re going to have much more success as we always have by attracting smaller firms and helping them grow,” Dorman said.

The formation of ALEDA in 2003 brought Greater Jobs and the City Port Authority together and allowed the Port Authority to operate outside of Albert Lea, and it also insulates economic development from the day-to-day operations of the city, Dorman said, which can be affected by elections and can focus more on long-term goals.

He compared Albert Lea to Austin.

“When I talked to the city management over there and the equivalent of Greater Jobs, the Development Corporation of Austin, they’re very envious of what we’ve been able accomplish here, because they see us as working very much together, more on one page,” Dorman said.

Energy produced will be owned by Wisconsin Power & Light and will be used in Wisconsin.

$400 million investment

Minnesota is ranked ninth in wind resource potential.

122 Vestes turbines ordered will be delivered in 2010.

1.65 Megawatt turbines, or the equivalent of 400 homes.

Tower height: 262 feet.

Blade length: 135 feet.

Overall height: 400 feet.

The base of the turbines is about a half acre and will require about 450 yards of concrete.

Turbines are designed to turn on when wind exceeds 9 mph and off over 47 mph. The turbines operate 90 percent of the time in that range.

Bent Tree will result in 18-25 new jobs in Freeborn County.

Because the wastewater treatment plant has underused capacity, Mayor Mike Murtaugh proposed a community effort to attract more wet industry companies — companies that require a lot of water and sewage in day-to-day operations.

“With the economy where it’s at, I’d say there’s no better time than now to put together a community effort to solve a number of issues,” Murtaugh said.

One such economic effort already in place is construction on Bent Tree Wind Farm, owned by Alliant Energy Company’s Wisconsin Power & Light. Larry Nelson of Alliant Energy said the first phase of construction will be completed in the first quarter of 2009.

Dorman said it’s been hard for some people to get excited about Bent Tree Wind Farm, but if it’s completed to full 400 megawatts, the tax revenue it generates would be equivalent to that of a thousand $100,000 houses or 40,000 acres of agricultural land.

“The good thing about wind farms: They don’t require a lot of government services. They don’t go to school. They rarely get the police called on them. They don’t end up in jail. They don’t need welfare. They just sit there and produce electricity and income for our governmental units in addition. There will be cash income to the landowners,” Dorman said.