The Front Range Cluster Deepens

[Photo to left from www.vestas.com/, concept of new research facility planned for Louisville, CO]

This past week there were a several exciting sustainable energy announcements in Metro Denver boosting the status of the regional green energy cluster.

Vestas announced it will open an R&D engineering site in Louisville, Colorado strengthening the company's presence in the Front Range.

The U.S. Department of Energy granted two Metro Denver companies, ADA-ES in Littleton and Ion Engineering in Boulder, $14 million to fund development of technology to capture carbon dioxide released during the burning of coal in electric power plants.

President Obama announced a $400 million federal loan guarantee to Abound Solar, a Loveland-based company, started in part by Colorado State University engineering faculty. The federally financed expansion will bring an estimated 300 new jobs to the company's manufacturing facility in Longmont.

The Vestas Press Release describes the importance of Colorado to the company's long term plans and the reasons behind its decision to concentrate its North American production facilities in the state.

"Denver, Colo. – (July 7, 2010) – Vestas, the world’s leader in producing high-tech wind power systems, announced today that it will open an Engineering Site in Louisville, Colo., to support Vestas Global and enhance Vestas’ wind power production capabilities throughout North America. Vestas will move 46 employees into 47,675 square feet of space on Centennial Parkway, Louisville starting today, and will expand this team to include up to 125 highly skilled engineers within a year’s time.

The Vestas Engineering Site will enhance Vestas’ ability to integrate product development by placing it close to the company’s three factories – a blades’ factory in Windsor, a nacelles-assembly factory in Brighton and towers’ factory Pueblo, thereby better servicing and meeting the needs of Vestas’ North American customers.

“Vestas has made a deep commitment to Colorado, which is evidenced in our factories and the establishment of the Engineering Site. We are extremely committed to Colorado, and we look forward to a long, successful relationship here,” said Finn Madsen, President Vestas Technology R&D. “By co-locating engineering and design competencies with the production cluster in Colorado, the proximity of Technology R&D to manufacturing creates significant efficiencies that can be passed along as a direct benefit to our customers.”

Vestas decided to build its North American production facilities in Colorado because of the state’s central location, extensive transportation infrastructure and rail system, existing manufacturing base and skilled workforce. "

Daniel Gross On The Recovery: An Example from Colorado

Financial and economic writer Daniel Gross has an insightful piece in Slate on why the U.S. economic recovery will be stronger and faster than many experts predict. Gross cites the emerging wind energy cluster in the Colorado's "Renewable Range" as an example of an emerging ecosystem which has the potential to create a huge amount of new economic activity.

"Skepticism about the potential for millions of "green jobs" to materialize
overnight is warranted. But in some areas, a process similar to the iTunes
experience is developing. The Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas in recent years
has announced investments of nearly $1 billion in wind-turbine-manufacturing
plants in Colorado, which, when completed, will directly employ about 2,500
people. But Vestas has also attracted a dozen-odd suppliers, including
components producers like Aluwind, PMC Technology, Bach Composite, and Hexcel.
And it's not just about the hardware. Renewable Energy Systems Americas, the
largest manager of wind farms, moved its corporate headquarters to Broomfield,
Colo., in 2008. Last month Colorado mandated that 30 percent of the state's
energy be produced from renewable sources by 2020. "

This is Gross' second mention of the wind energy story in Colorado, that I am aware of, so he must be tracking developments in Denver closely.

Vestas Follow Up

The Denver Post has a great article on the Vestas investments in Colorado.

Graphic from The Denver Post.

Daniel Gross in Slate on Renewable Energy in Denver

Slate recently posted an interesting article by business writer Daniel Gross on the Denver Region's success in attracting a renewable energy cluster (what I refer to as the "Renewable Range").

The basic thesis of this article is that Colorado's proximity to clean energy generation opportunities in the great plains make it a natural hub for renewable energy manufacturing, research and generation.

Money quotes.

"The Mile High City occupies the high ground when it comes to clean energy—and clean living. Denver's sheer outdoorsiness can be by turns charming and infuriating. (The question "What do you do?" is likely to be answered with an outdoor activity, not a profession.) When I showed up at Gov. Bill Ritter's office, an aide was carting a bicycle rack out of the inner sanctum. And while the state's jewel of a capital may be testimony to its heritage of extraction—walls of Colorado-mined rose onyx, a dome covered in gold, and Works Progress Administration-era frescoes paying tribute to coal mining—a new Colorado is dawning. In November 2004, Denver-area citizens voted to boost sales taxes to expand the region's light-rail system, and the state's voters approved a ballot initiative mandating that utilities draw a chunk of electricity from renewable sources. The quasi-independent republic of Boulder is a capital of
composting, recycling, hybrid-driving, and general eco-fabulousness....

The Great Plains are the Saudi Arabia of wind, and the turbines—a tower can be up to 300 feet high, and each of the three blades weighs up to 7 tons—are very expensive to transport. Colorado's proximity to markets, its highly educated work force, and tax breaks drew Vestas, the Danish turbine maker. The Danes opened their first U.S. manufacturing facility in Windsor, Colo., in 2008, and have three more in the works in the state. The tower factory under construction in Pueblo will be the largest in the world. "We will be processing 200,000 metric tons of steel per year," said Hans Jefpersen, general manager of Vestas Blades America. Total capital investment: $700 million. Suppliers are following: Hexcel, an advanced carbon materials supplier based in Stamford, Conn., is setting up a 100-employee facility in Windsor."