Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s largest wind-turbine maker, plans to hire 850 workers at its Colorado plants in the United States over the next year and a half after winning orders in North America.
"Throughout 2009 we didn’t see any orders in the U.S. whatsoever," Vestas spokesman Michael Holm said in a telephone interview from the company’s Randers, Denmark, headquarters. "That is changing. We see the market is easing up."
Vestas lost a net 82 million euros ($104 million) in the first quarter after tighter financing led customers to delay renewable-energy projects. The company said on April 28 that renewed market momentum will lead it to hire 3,400 workers worldwide this year, a majority of them in the U.S., where Vestas operates three plants and will open a fourth next year.
"We don’t see a fall in demand for our products," Holm said. “But to some extent customers are still facing financing challenges, so sometimes negotiations on firm orders take longer.”
Vestas has announced several orders for wind turbines in the United States and Canada this year, including the company’s largest ever order, for turbines totaling 1,500 megawatts to be installed and maintained in North America, South America and Europe in 2011 and 2012 for EDP Renovaveis SA.
The hiring of 850 workers was reported earlier today by the Coloradoan.
