Colorado Poised To Become Green Jobs Central: Vestas To Employ Over 2,000
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08.25.08
This has nothing to do with political conventions, and everything to do with the wind and the future - a little bit about the tipping of the balance of power among lobbyists.
Vestas expects to employ 2,450 people in Colorado.
The towers will be built in Pueblo - biggest such in the world. Blades and nacelles in Brighton CO. Blades in Windsor.
That's probably more people than work in "clean coal' combined, the world over: and they don't even have to get filthy. No support columns caving in on poor miners either. Nice. Who would have thought a Danish company would be the light at the end of the tunnel.
Via::Forbes, Vestas picks Pueblo for wind-turbine tower plant
Note only that.
Shares in Denmark's Vestas -- the world's #1 wind turbine maker -- shot up 8 percent last Friday on news that the company had an order backlog worth $10.7 billion. The backlog grew 67 percent since a year ago -- a strong indication of continued robust growth.Via::Solve Climate, Danish Wind Turbine Company to Outsource 1350 Jobs -- to Colorado
You can imagine the gnashing of teeth from the Front Range, coal-bed-methane lobby. Like that free market enough guys?
Image credit::Coppa Consultancy, Vestas vignette
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That's Pueblo, CO. Puebla is in Mexico.
I want to read more about offshore wind projects in the U.S.
Any info on power output and completion date?
"You can imagine the gnashing of teeth from the Front Range, coal-bed-methane lobby."
Not really. For every facility that generates electricity using wind power, they have to build a coal-fired powerplant that continually runs on standby mode in case the wind stops blowing.
Building wind turbines means building coal-fired power plants. Until they come up with a technique for storing the electricity generated by the wind that can be tapped when the wind stops blowing, this will continue to be the case.
I'm all for the development of alternative energy methods, and this sort of thing is a step in the right direction, but until they can figure out a way to actually store some of the energy generated in reserve, wind power won't be ready for prime time.
:-(
@ Matt
Offshore wind costs about two to three times as much per MW of installed capacity. There are a lot of difficulties like building the platform to mount the turbine on, using corrosion resistant materials, etc. Maintenance is also more expensive and difficult.
However, you do get more production offshore, since the wind is more consistent and stronger, but the upfront costs are much greater.
I'm not sure how long (if ever) the production increases offset the increased costs. Anyone?