Reported by Staff

Vestas manufacturing plants in Colorado will be “going live” this year, according to the company, thanks to an order of 81 wind turbines for a multimillion dollar Wisconsin project. The development calls for Vestas V90-1.8 MW units to be installed at the Glacier Hills Wind Park in Colombia County, near Portage, Wisconsin. Delivery is expected early next year, with the project fully commissioned by the end of 2011. The company reported the order also includes a two-year service and maintenance agreement.

It is welcome news to one of the world’s largest turbine manufacturers, which had idled its Windsor plant in the first quarter of this year because of fewer 2009 orders. The global recession and credit squeeze put the brakes on scores of big wind and solar projects. Now, however, Vestas says business is slowly starting to thaw.

The Vestas plants will produce the outsized turbine blades and steel towers, while also assembling nacelle housing — in fact, as the manufacturer’s senior VP for group communications, Peter Kruse, noted, “everything that you can see from the outside is being made in Colorado.”

The Danish manufacturer has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the state to build its blade manufacturing plant in Windsor, which opened two years ago. Vestas is also completing the world’s largest tower plant in Pueblo, as well as a nacelles assembly plant in Brighton and a second wind blade plant in Brighton. The new plants are expected to be up and running by the end of the year, according to the company.