News and Finance

As the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the Denver Business Journal is revisiting some of the biggest business-news stories of the last 10 years.

Here, we look at the growth of the renewable-energy industry in Colorado, a development that could transform the state’s traditional energy economy. (And click here to share your picks for the biggest business news of the last decade.)

The story: Colorado has long been a center of “new energy” research, as home of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden and other facilities. Also, its abundant sunshine and steady high-plains winds make its potential for solar- and wind-power development among the highest in the nation.

The state’s renewable energy sector has grown rapidly since 2004, when Colorado voters passed a measure mandating that more electricity come from the sun and the wind. In particular, progress toward making Colorado a clean-energy center gathered steam in 2007 and 2008.

A key development was when Vestas Wind Systems, the Danish wind turbine manufacturer, decided to make Colorado its major U.S. factory center. In 2007 it broke ground on a manufacturing plant for wind-turbine components in Windsor and then announced plans for two more plants in the state. And the company’s suppliers said they would follow Vestas to Colorado.

In 2008, energy giant ConocoPhillips bought the former StorageTek campus in Louisville for $58.5 million with plans to create a 2.5 million-square-foot renewable energy research and training facility by 2013.

Also that year, Germany’s Siemens Energy announced it would establish its U.S. wind research and development center in Boulder.

They were among several firms involved in new energy that announced plans in 2007 and 2008 to come to Colorado.

Meanwhile, Xcel Energy — the state’s largest power utility and rated the nation’s top investor-owned utility for wind power — took steps toward expanding its clean-energy capacity in Colorado, while launching its “Smart Grid City” demonstration project in Boulder, showcasing energy delivery and control technologies of the future.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has made the push toward a “new energy economy” a central element of his first term in office — and of his 2010 re-election campaign.

And President Barack Obama recognized Colorado’s emerging role in alternative energy when he chose to spotlight Blake Jones, president of Boulder’s Namaste Solar Electric Inc., at the February 2009 ceremony at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science where Obama signed the federal stimulus program into law.

Before the bill signing, Blake gave Obama and Vice President Joe Biden a tour of the solar panels his company had installed on the roof of the museum.

The stimulus — which includes alternative-energy subsidies as well as funds for weatherization projects — “will help Colorado gain prominence in the renewable energy arena,” Jones said at the time.

Amid the excitement over wind and solar power, natural-gas producers in Colorado touted their product as another “flavor” of clean energy, noting that the Rockies supply about 25 percent of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. every year.

Others in the state looked to more exotic potential energy sources, including underground geothermal steam as well as algae that can produce fuels.

Jim Welch, CEO of Louisville-based Bella Energy Inc. and president of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, says that today there are 10,000 jobs linked to the solar industry in Colorado, and 70,000 direct and indirect jobs dealing with all renewable industries.

Today: The path to a clean-energy economy in Colorado has not been entirely smooth. A proposal to run a $180 million power line, in part to carry solar-generated electricity, through Colorado’s San Luis Valley has met with strong opposition, signaling to some that even new-energy initiatives may be met with old-fashioned “not in my back yard” opposition.

Meanwhile, the credit crunch, rising unemployment and fears for job stability have for now sapped many homeowners’ interest in buying solar power panels for their roofs, even as the federal economic recovery act has raised incentives to cut the costs of the systems.

And on Dec. 7, Vestas announced it would shut down production at its factory in Windsor for an unknown length of time in early 2010.

Still, many experts believe Colorado is well positioned for new-energy growth again once a broad economic recovery takes hold.

Here’s a roundup of DBJ coverage of this key story of the decade.

• March 20, 2007 — Vestas to build plant in Windsor
• Jan. 25, 2008 — The New Energy Economy: What’s in it for Colorado?
• Feb. 20, 2008 — ConocoPhillips to build campus on former StorageTek site
• March 12, 2008 — Boulder named ‘Smart Grid City’
• March 26, 2008 — Texas wind-energy company RES-Americas moving to Broomfield
• June 3, 2008 — Siemens Energy picks Boulder for wind R&D center
• Aug. 22, 2008 — Colorado investing in ‘new energy economy’
• Aug. 26, 2008 — Vestas unveils Colorado plans
• Sept. 26, 2008 — Geothermal: Answer to energy needs may lie beneath our feet
• Oct. 10, 2008 — Bailout package includes R&D tax breaks, credits for alternative energy investments
• Feb. 16, 2009 — Stimulus package a ‘shot in the arm’ for alternative-energy industry, Colorado execs say
• April 18, 2008 — ConocoPhillips begins work on new home
• May 8, 2009 — Sundrop Fuels quietly chases energy solution
• July 21, 2009 — Ritter touts Colorado clean-energy companies before Congress
• July 31, 2009 — Renewable energy does have its price
• Aug. 11, 2009 — Xcel submits plan to boost renewable power, cut carbon by 10%
• Oct. 23, 2009 — Not in my backyard: Power line for solar tests ‘New Energy’ resolve
• Dec. 8, 2009 — Vestas eyes shutdown, ‘long weekends’ at Windsor plant
• Dec. 11, 2009 — Energy industry ready for recovery

Source