The facility, which also boasts eight miles of on-site railway tracks, has been established by Vestas-subsidiary Vestas Towers America, Inc., to address the “growing needs” of North American wind projects.
Vestas has been recruiting skilled staff over the last few months at local job fairs, seeking candidates for a range of jobs from engineering to human resources.
“We’ve hired people in a number of functions related to tower building, including steel fabricators, finishers, welders, assemblers and maintenance personnel,” said Anthony J. Knopp, Vice President at Vestas Towers America, Inc.
“It is amazing how many traditional manufacturing job skills are directly transferable to Vestas. This translates to a win-win for our company and the people who live in this region.”
Grand
The tower factory will be capable of processing more than 200,000 tons of steel each year – enough to build two Golden Gate Bridges or 28 Eiffel Towers every year.Its grand opening saw US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar joining regional and local dignitaries, as well as officials from Vestas.
Secretary Salazar said: “The steel industry has and will continue to play a large role in Pueblo’s identity, but as seen here today, the renewable energy industry is carving its own path into the city and state’s history. Colorado is committed to the development of a clean energy economy, and I applaud Vestas for recognizing the potential of Colorado’s landscape and workforce.”
As well as the Pueblo tower factory, Vestas has a number of manufacturing operations elsewhere in Colorado, including a blade factory in Windsor and a nacelle factory in Brighton. Sales and service operations are based in Portland, Oregon.
Vestas also has research and development offices in Texas, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Colorado.
Reprinted from an article written by James Cartledge at http://www.brightenergy.org/
