Vestas to add hundreds of jobs in Windsor and Brighton

After a rocky year in 2012, Vestas Wind Systems announced Monday that it will be hiring again in Colorado — keeping up with increasing wind turbine orders and customer demand across the county.

The global energy company will be adding “hundreds” of jobs at its blade factory in Windsor and facility in Brighton, Vestas spokesman Michael Zarin said. Currently, about 1,500 people work at Vestas facilities across Colorado, Zarin said. Of those, around 625 are currently employed in Windsor, the blade factory confirmed Tuesday.

In October 2012, Vestas announced an unspecified number of layoffs at its Colorado facilities. Later, in February 2013, 10 percent of the company’s Colorado workforce was out of jobs.

In September 2013, months after a one-year extension of a production tax credit for wind energy was announced, things at Vestas started looking up as it secured its largest wind turbine order since 2010 and started adding jobs.

Citing new turbine sales in North America — specifically a recent 48-turbine order for a $369 million wind project in Maine — Zarin called 2013 one of Vestas’s “best years ever.”

“... We’re plenty busy,” he added.