photos by Jeff Adkins
A large wind turbine stands in front of the new Vestas Wind Systems manufacturing plant in Pueblo.
Story By Joe Morris
W
hen you’ve got it all, people notice. In Pueblo’s case, the stars aligned brilliantly when work began to lure Vestas Wind Systems to town. Vestas, the world’s biggest supplier of wind-powered systems, was looking for a U.S. location for its new wind-turbine component manufacturing plant, which would be the world’s largest. The company wanted a central location, an alternative-energy savvy city, a quality workforce and an involved, engaged local and state government presence. In Pueblo, it got all that and then some, Anthony J. Knopp, vice president of Vestas Towers Americas Inc., says.
Workforce, Location Key to Vestas Decision “Pueblo is centralized to our customers, and the transportation structure here has greatly reduced our costs to move our products,” Knopp says. “We also found state and local governments that would strongly sponsor our technology, and support our industry.” Since opening in early 2010, the 670,000-square-foot, fourbuilding Vestas complex has begun to ramp up production, sending out its first product in May. The company is only using 300 of its 800 acres, so growth will be easily managed in the future. Early projections called for a 500-employee starting point, and the company is well on its way to meeting pu e b lo
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