By Art Mass

PUEBLO - Vestas Wind Systems held a job fair on Saturday and, in a sign of the times, the turnout was huge, with more than 1,000 people showing up and hundreds more turned away. All were hoping to eventually land a job in the new Pueblo manufacturing faciilty being built by the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer.

Colorado may not be suffering quite as much as other states during the current recession; nevertheless unemployment is at a twenty year high, according to Gov. Ritter, who was in attendance at the event tailor- made for his “new energy economy.” That, and layoffs in the state’s oil and gas sector, clearly contributed to the large number of job seekers descending on Pueblo.

It is more than that, however. The response to the job fair also reflects the deep, across-the-board interest in renewable energy as an “industry of the future” for Colorado and the anticipated employment it will create.

As reported previously in Colorado Energy News, Vestas is planning to build other facilities along the Front Range, although the timeframe for those remains uncertain because of the recession.

The Denmark-based manufacturer estimates 400 jobs will be created when construction is finished on what it says will be the world’s largest turbine-tower factory. The City of Pueblo and the State have both stepped forward to offer Vestas nearly $2 million in tax incentives to build the manufacturing facility.