Springs' renewable energy role hasn't been realized

Renewable energy is responsible for employing thousands in Colorado - from the government scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, to the hundreds that Danish wind giant Vestas is hiring in Windsor, Brighton and, soon, Pueblo, to the workers who erect and maintain the massive windmills dotting the eastern plains.

Colorado would like to become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy. So far, however, Colorado Springs is coming up dry when it comes to developing renewable energy jobs and investment.

"What could Colorado Springs do to become a hub of renewable energy?" asked Don Elliman Jr., director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. "That's a good question and I don't have a particularly good answer."

It's not for lack of effort, Springs officials say. Yet, they've been stymied in their pursuit of renewable energy jobs, which in recent months have gone to cities that offered millions of dollars in incentives or were deemed to have more strategic locations, such as near rail lines.

"We haven't snared anybody yet," acknowledged David White, marketing vice president for the Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp.

But, he added, "there's a window of opportunity. Right now, a lot of companies are in the site selection mode. We're trying to jump on that bandwagon."

At stake for Colorado Springs and other communities: Good-paying jobs in manufacturing and research and development and hundreds of millions of dollars in new investment by an industry that's barely tapped its growth potential. In today's high-stakes world of economic development, wind, solar and other renewable energy companies are being aggressively pursued in the same way computer chipmakers and other high-tech firms were courted 20 years ago.

And for a community such as Colorado Springs, which has lost thousands of high-tech jobs, the allure of renewable energy has made it one of the Economic Development Corp.'s top three targeted industries, along with biosciences and sports and outdoor fitness.

Yet Colorado Springs wasn't even in the running for some of the most recent renewable energy splashes, White said.

Last month, Vestas announced it will build a $240 million wind turbine tower manufacturing plant that will bring more than 450 jobs to Pueblo - but Colorado Springs lacks the access to railroads that Pueblo has, White said. It was the same for Vestas' blade plant in Windsor and its blade and nacelle plants in Brighton. Railroads are critical to transporting the very large, heavy wind-generation products.

What's more, Pueblo offered Vestas $11.8 million in incentives, plus another $2 million from the state.

New Mexico, meanwhile, offered as much as $130 million in incentives to land what could eventually be a $500 million investment in solar energy manufacturing by German energy company Schott AG that could employ as many as 1,500 people in Albuquerque.

Incentives aren't necessarily at the top of the list for renewable energy companies, said David Hiller, executive director of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, a research collaboration of NREL, the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado State University in Fort Collins and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Instead, companies typically are focused on the quality of a community's workforce and its quality of life, among other factors, when they decide to locate in a particular area, he said.

Yet while those factors help get a community on a company's short list, incentives can often be the tie-breaker, said Springs EDC President Mike Kazmierski. In the case of renewable energy as the next hot industry, incentives are proving to be a significant lure.

Springs officials thought they'd be competitive on the Schott project - until they learned what New Mexico offered, Kazmierski said.

"This is an industry that's highly sought after," he said. "If you're a pig slaughterer, you're not going to get incentives. But if you're the latest trend in job creation, renewable energy, you've got states fighting over you."

So what will it take for Colorado Springs to start landing these plants and jobs? Besides the cash that some companies want, brains and leadership are necessary ingredients, experts said.

The area between Denver and Fort Collins gets a major boost from the "research triangle" created by the NREL and Colorado School of Mines, CU and CSU. That brainpower creates a cluster effect, Elliman said, that attracts startups, spin-offs and further investment.

"Today the Springs has not been what would be called a cluster city," said Elliman, the state economic development director.

Colorado Springs is not likely to catch up to Golden, but investing in research will pay dividends, Kazmierski said.

"We've got some really fantastic patents coming out of UCCS (the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs) that give us opportunities," he said. "Our incubator through homeland defense - we've got some advantages there. It may not be as strong as their triangle of renewable, but we may grow our own triangle here."

Part of the city's hopes are pegged to creation of a research and development center at UCCS, which would be built as part of a makeover of North Nevada Avenue that's now under way with construction of a Costco-anchored shopping center.

And even though Colorado and Colorado Springs are unlikely to play in the same financial ballpark as other states and cities when it comes to incentives, the area can still compete, White of the Springs EDC said.

"We have a good business climate," he said. "Low-tax climate. Quality work force."

And the Springs can still benefit through the trickle-down effect. Springs Fabrication, a 22-year-old company that designs and manufactures metal products, is expanding its facility and hiring workers to supply energy companies with parts - and those parts could end up in equipment used in natural gas, coal, wind, solar or ethanol.

Springs Fabrication chief executive officer Tom Neppl said that Colorado Springs was never going to be the right fit for Vestas, but that there's plenty of work to be had supplying those big wind plants.

"We can certainly support the industry from here with parts and components," he said.

For the Springs, solar energy might do more to heat up the local economy than wind.

In recent years, the Colorado Springs area has lost several major computer chipmakers such as Intel Corp., on the city's northwest side, along with companies such as electronics manufacturer Sanmina-SCI in Fountain.

White and Kazmierski said they hope to turn those lemons into photovoltaic lemonade. The clean rooms and specialized manufacturing environments needed to build a computer chip aren't so very different from what you need to make a solar cell.

"We have a lot of manufacturing facilities that could cater very easily to that industry," White said. "The Intel facility, for example, could be retrofitted for that industry. The Sanmina-SCI building comes up on every short list. We have three or four companies looking at that facility as we speak." A decision by those companies on the plant isn't expected until early 2009.

Joe McCabe, vice president of business development for Littleton-based Ascent Solar, thinks Colorado Springs is well-positioned to snag a solar manufacturer at some point. But, he cautioned, everyone else in the solar system wants those jobs, too.

"It makes sense," he said of the EDC's plans to attract a solar plant, "but there's huge international competition for successfully getting these facilities."

Russ Kanjorski, vice president of marketing for AVA Solar, said his company chose an existing building in Longmont for its first large-scale manufacturing plant because the building was already set up perfectly and is close to the company's Fort Collins headquarters. But, Kanjorski said, future expansion could be anywhere.

The final piece of the renewable pie is leadership. When Colorado passed Amendment 37 in 2004, it required utilities to supply 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2015. That sent a signal to renewable companies that Colorado was backing their industries, said Keith Hay, energy advocate for the environmental advocacy group Environment Colorado.

"One of the biggest things we can do is tell them we have a market," Hay said. "The renewable energy standard made it clear we have a market for wind, we have a market for solar."

Likewise, local governments and utilities can send a signal that their cities really believe in sustainability, Kazmierski said.
"They want to see community involvement in green efforts," he said. "They don't want our definition of green to be, ‘Everybody water their grass 24/7.' They want us to live and breathe green."

And the Springs is a mixed bag on that score, Kazmierski said.

"A communitywide recycling program would be helpful," he said. "We don't have it."

Though traditional fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil generate thousands of jobs and billions of dollars on the Western Slope, it's renewable energy getting attention these days. Environment Colorado's Hay said it's a matter of looking at the future.
"Finite resources mean finite jobs," he said of fossil fuels.

"Renewable resources mean long-term, sustainable job growth. These are plants that are going to last 30, 40, 50 years and bring good jobs for that time."

Renewable Energy Initiatives

NEW MEXICO
WHAT: Schott Solar, a subsidiary of Germany-based Schott AG, and New Mexico officials announced in January the company would build a solar products manufacturing plant in Albuquerque. . The plant will open in 2009 and could expand from 200,000 square feet to 800,000 square feet. The initial investment of $100 million could grow to $500 million.
JOBS: 350 to start, up to 1,500.
WHY NEW MEXICO: New Mexico's skilled workers and renewable energy policies, state officials said.
INCENTIVES: New Mexico provided $130 million, including job-training funds, energy and high-wage job tax credits, industrial revenue bonds, and money for roads and utilities.
Sources: Gazette research, the Associated Press, Albuquerque Journal

PUEBLO
WHAT: In August, Danish company Vestas Wind Systems said it chose Pueblo for a $240 million factory that will build towers that support the company's wind turbines. Vestas said it will be the world's largest turbine-tower factory.
NUMBER OF JOBS: At least 450.
WHY PUEBLO: Major factors included land availability and access to a railroad line.
INCENTIVES: Pueblo officials provided $11.8 million from its half-cent, economic development sales tax for plant construction and job training; the state provided an additional $2 million.
Sources: Gazette research, Pueblo Chieftain, Rocky Mountain News

WINDSOR
WHAT: Vestas Wind Systems opened a $65 million, 400,000-square-foot wind turbine blade manufacturing plant in March in Windsor, about 50 miles north of Denver. It is the company's first blade plant in North America.
JOBS: About 650.
WHY WINDSOR: Railroad access, needed to transport the massive blades; a skilled work force; and Colorado's commitment to renewable energy.
INCENTIVES: At least $1.1 million from city, county and state officials in deferred development fees, tax breaks and job-training funds.
Sources: Gazette research, the Associated Press

BRIGHTON
WHAT: Vestas Wind Systems said in August it will build a $180 million manufacturing plant for wind turbine blades in Brighton, and a separate $110 million facility to manufacture nacelles, the turbine housings that include the generator, transformer and gearbox. The plants are expected to open in 2010.
JOBS: 650 at the turbine plant and 700 at the nacelle plant.
WHY BRIGHTON: A large qualified work force, railroad access, availability of land and proximity to the Windsor plant 35 miles away.
INCENTIVES: State officials said Colorado offered $1 million to $1.5 million, depending on the number of jobs created.
Sources: Gazette research, the Associated Press, Rocky Mountain News

LOUISVILLE
WHAT: Energy giant ConocoPhillips of Houston announced in February it purchased the 432-acre former StorageTek office campus in Louisville, where it plans to convert the site into a global technology and corporate learning center for research on hydrogen fuel cells, solar and wind power, and clean diesel fuel made from renewable resources.
JOBS: Not announced, possibly thousands.
WHY LOUISVILLE: Proximity of education and research institutions.
INCENTIVES: None to date.
Sources: Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, Denver Business Journal, the Associated Press

LONGMONT
WHAT: Thin-film solar panel company AVA Solar, based in Fort Collins, is building its first large-scale production plant, scheduled to open in 2009.
JOBS: 400
WHY LONGMONT: An existing building there was a perfect fit for AVA's manufacturing process.
INCENTIVES: None initially.
Source: AVA Solar

THORNTON
WHAT: Manufacturing facility and headquarters for Ascent Solar, a thin-film solar panel maker, scheduled to open in 2009.
JOBS: Not announced, but likely to be a couple of hundred to start.
WHY THORNTON: An existing building matched the company's needs.
INCENTIVES: State provided loan assistance for the purchase of the manufacturing plant, as well as dollars for new employee training.
Source: Ascent Solar