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Wind Turbine Maker Vestas To Add 1,350 Colo. Jobs

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Aug 16, 2008 10:11 pm US/Mountain

Wind Turbine Maker Vestas To Add 1,350 Colo. Jobs

Reporting
Molly Hughes
DENVER (CBS4/AP) ― Wind turbine manufacturer Vestas plans to build two plants in Brighton, 15 miles northeast of Denver, and bring a total of 1,350 more jobs to the state.

Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems already has a blade-making plant in Windsor, 50 miles north of Denver, that employs 200.

The company said Friday that one of the new plants will also make blades and will employ 650 people. The other will employ 700 and assemble turbine housings, which include a generator, transformer and gearbox.

"Vestas will be building two new manufacturing plants in Brighton, Colorado," Gov. Bill Ritter announced. "One will be a wind blade plant and the second an assembly factory."

Ritter said it's another indication of Colorado's success with what he's calling "our new energy economy." He said Colorado is setting a new standard in renewable energy, recognized internationally.

"In Europe, when they talk about research and development around wind and solar, they talk about Colorado as the center," Ritter said.

Both new plants are expected to be operational in 2010.

Brighton's mayor, Jan Pawlowski, says wages for the manufacturing jobs will make a big impact in the community.

"The economic impact as far as salaries go, it's between $35,000 and $42,000 with benefits and that, in the primary job category, we as a city have been looking for a long time, so it's a big bump," Pawlowski said.

The Windsor plant is expected to have 650 workers when it reaches full production.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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