Brighton, CO— Vestas-American Wind Technology Inc. announced in August that it will build two factories in Brighton to manufacture components for wind farms. They will employ a combined 1,350 people.
The Portland, OR, company, which is owned by a Denmark corporation, will open a factory to make blades for wind turbines, and a nacelle factory where the turbine housing containing the gearbox, generator and transformer will be assembled.
The company, which goes by Vestas Americas, opened a blade manufacturing plant in nearby Windsor last March. Vestas said it chose Brighton for its new plants because of the city's central location, easy access to railroads and highways, and proximity to Windsor.
The $180-million Brighton blade factory will be fully operational in the first half of 2010 and will be able to produce 1,800 blades a year. The $110-million nacelle factory, which will be at full capacity in mid-2010, will produce an estimated 1,400 nacelles a year.
Vestas also announced earlier this year it plans to open a manufacturing plant in Colorado to build the steel towers that hold up the wind turbines. That plant is expected to produce 900 towers a year. Vestas hasn't announced a site for the facility.
The new plants will be built on a 178-acre site in unincorporated Weld County that will be annexed into Brighton.
