BRIGHTON, Colo.—Danish Crown Prince Frederik said Wednesday that expanding a country’s renewable energy sources and recovering from a recession don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
“Denmark is economically competitive not in spite of these efforts, but because of them,” he said at a Brighton plant groundbreaking for Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems. “Opening a manufacturing plant, unfortunately, is not very common these days.”
The prince, his wife, Crown Princess Mary, and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter attended the ceremony for two parts plants by Vestas, which already has a blade-making plant in Windsor, about 50 miles north of Denver. More than 200 people work there and 650 are expected at full employment.
The company also is planning a 400-employee factory in Pueblo to build towers that support the turbines, which it has said would be the world’s largest such factory.
The two plants will employ about 1,350 people at full operation, expected next year. Ole Borup Jakobsen, president of Vestas Blades, said the plants’ annual production eventually will reach 2,000 blades and 1,400 nacelles, which are housings for the turbine’s generator, transformer and gearbox.
State officials said Vestas is spending about $290 million to build the two plants. The company will also locate an employee training and development division and a technology and production engineering office in Brighton.
The crown prince said that during an economic downturn in the 1970s, Denmark decided to wean itself off fossil fuels, leading to dramatic economic growth and a drop in carbon dioxide emissions of more than 13 percent. He said renewable energy accounted for 28 percent of Denmark’s electricity supply.
“I hope that opening this new Vestas plant can show everyone that these challenging economic times can be an opportunity,” the crown prince.
Ritter has championed alternative energy, which he called the state’s “new energy economy” for creating jobs and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.
“It isn’t a slogan. It’s an idea,” he said.
Ritter said he believes Colorado has the best renewable energy research and development corridor anywhere. Companies have cited the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, other federal labs and three major research universities as part of the area’s draw.
Colorado officials hope the state becomes a magnet for green-energy companies. Aerospace products maker Hexcel Corp. plans to open a plant in Windsor next year to be close to Vestas, which it supplies with composite materials used to make wind turbines.
Brighton Mayor Jan Pawlowski said area cities and counties hope to develop a renewable energy manufacturing zone. She said it has prime access to railroads, interstates and is only 15 miles from Denver International Airport.
Weld County, where the Vestas plants are being built, is also a conventional energy leader. It has about 13,680 oil and gas wells, the most in Colorado. The company T & D Manufacturing and Powdercoating builds equipment for the oil and gas business and has expanded to the renewable sector. Tim Sharp, whose wife owns the company, said a contract with Vestas has helped T & D keep going despite depressed oil and gas prices.
“We’ve been able to keep our eight employees employed,” Sharp said.
The company plans to add three workers.
