Vestas adds 200 N. America jobs this year, more on the way

Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S on Tuesday said it has hired 220 people in North America so far this year with about 200 more positions yet to be filled.

A majority of the new hires have come within the company’s Portland-based Vestas Americas sales and service business unit, which has added 160 new employees across the U.S. and Canada, including 40 in Portland.

Sixty more have been hired this year at the company's blade manufacturing facility in Colorado.

Of Vestas Americas' 200 open positions, about 30 are located in Portland, with the rest spread across one of Vestas' 30 job sites where the company is fulfilling customer orders at wind farms across North America, said spokeswoman Aili Jokela.

Vestas research and development centers in Boston and Louisville, Colo., are also hiring a combined 30 workers.

Vestas is also in the process of developing a second blade-manufacturing plant in Brighton, Colo., to open later this year, that can hold more than 500 workers once at capacity.

And if the U.S. market continues to grow, Vestas' recruiters indicate the company could add another 30 positions should the need arise, Jokela said.

The hiring comes in large part thanks to Vestas’ record high North American sales performance last year.

The company in January said it sold 871 wind turbines in North America for 15 projects, resulting in 1,883-megawatts worth of energy capacity, its highest total since entering the market in 1981. That eclipsed its previous North American sales record of 1,554 megawatts set in 2007.

But the company hasn't been without its blemishes.

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