Wind energy and railroad intersect in Windsor.

• Author: Best, Allen
• Position: ENERGY - Brief article

The new Vestas factory in Windsor will manufacture blades for wind turbines, a key component of Colorado's 21st century "new energy economy." Ironically, the Denmark-based company decided on Windsor in part because of transportation infrastructure that dates to the 19th century: the railroad.

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Railroad access to Windsor was "a determining factor," says Larry Burkhardt, president and chief executive officer of the Greeley-based Upstate Colorado Economic Development. The factory site, about eight miles east of Interstate 25, adjacent to the Kodak plant, is located along a spur line built in the late 1890s to serve the now abandoned Great Western sugar factory. The 130-foot-long blades will be shipped by rail. A fifth of all inquirers about potential business development in Weld County want to know about railroad access, Burkhardt says.

Some 650 people will be employed at the factory at full production, making it one of the top 10 private-sector employers in Weld County. So far, there have been 8,000 inquiries about...