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Vestas Reports 2013 Profit, Continues To Hire New Workers

Vestas
A Vestas wind turbine.

Wrapping up 2013 with positive news, Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas has posted a $295 million fourth quarter profit. That’s the company’s first profit following a two year turnaround plan executed by company leaders.

“This is really great news for our factories here in Colorado,” said Vestas’ spokeswoman Susan Innis. “This means that our factories in Brighton and Windsor and Pueblo are going to be very busy for the next couple years making turbines to fill all of our customer orders.”

Following an extension of the Federal Wind Tax Credit (PTC) in late 2012, Innis said wind projects in the U.S. soared, creating one of the best sales years in the company’s history and keeping the company “really busy right now.”

Innis says Vestas will continue to hire 'hundreds' of new workers at their Colorado plants, as orders continue to be filled. While things are booming now, the PTC was not extended into 2014. That’s a concern for the company.

“The longer the extension of the tax credit can be, the more certainty that businesses like ours will have to continue to invest in the United States,” Innis said.

The return to profitability follows a two year turnaround plan that Bloomberg.com says forced the company to reduce its workforce by more than 30 percent worldwide and close or sell off 12 of the company’s 31 factories.

In Colorado, a lag in U.S. orders meant temporary hour cuts and layoffs and, for a short time, the possibility of Vestas selling its tower plant in Pueblo. That sale never came to fruition.

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