Vestas To Lay Off 20 Percent of Pueblo Workforce

Renewable Energy World Editors
August 15, 2012 | 3 Comments

Wind manufacturer Vestas said on Aug. 13 that it plans to lay off 20 percent of the 450 workers at a tower factory in Pueblo, Colo. The company blames a weak market caused by the looming expiration of the production tax credit (PTC).

Vestas employs 1,700 of the 5,000 wind sector jobs in Colorado. The company’s statement on the Pueblo layoffs made no mention of dismissals at the company’s three other Colorado plants in Windsor and Brighton, which make blades and turbines.

On Aug. 9, President Barack Obama visited the Pueblo facility, pushing for an extension of the PTC. Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel told The Denver Post earlier this year that the company may be forced to lay off 1,600 employees in Colorado if the PTC isn’t extended.

This article was reprinted with permission from Power Engineering magazine as part of the PennWell Corporation Renewable Energy World Network and may not be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher.

Lead image: Layoffs via Shutterstock

3 Comments

Greg Ripplinger
August 22, 2012

Anonymous, I suggest you read Arjun Makhijani's book: Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: a Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy. He states there is no need for carbon based baseload energy with sufficient renewable capacity and higher efficiencies.
I do agree with you about not subsidizing the energy industry, though I believe it is good to fund energy research.

ANONYMOUS
August 18, 2012

As a taxpayer I am concerned with how much it is costing the taxpayers for each job created in the wind industry--anywhere from $8 million to $46 million per job. I am for the free market---no more subsidies for any of the energy sectors. If they are a viable source of producing energy they will not need our hard-earned tax money to exist. We are pumping money into an industry that has been subsidized for 30 years with little progress in the amount of energy they can and are able to produce. It is not the answer to our energy problems--does not reduce carbon emmissions due to the fact that coal and nuclear have to be running in the background continuously because of the variability of wind. It is a very expensive form of energy tht is costing the consumer way too much at a time when we can least afford it. How many jobs are being lost in the coal industry? Stop wasting our money and let the free market work!!

Douglas Dewitz
August 17, 2012

Eliminating renewable energy jobs because of a non product issue such as the production tax credit is part of the problem with American manufacturing.
Eliminate the subsidies to the fossil fuel industry. This includes foreign defense intervention around the world on our part.
Sure this is a fantsy; but the corporate world, fossil fuel industry has lived its fantasy long enough.
Let big oil fund its own defense around the world.
Then we will have a level playing field that might not need a production tax credit to survive.

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Renewable Energy World Editors

Renewable Energy World's network editors help deliver the most comprehensive news coverage of the renewable energy industries. Based in the U.S. and the UK, the team is comprised of editors from Pennwell Corporation's myriad of publications...