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Weld County’s involvement with our country’s energy needs began long ago, with the extraction of high-quality western coal deposits. In particular, the communities of Firestone, Frederick and Dacono were settled as towns that housed the miners.
Today, those communities are experiencing some of the highest growth rates in Colorado, and have transitioned into other economic pursuits.
Weld County is now home to more than 12,000 active oil and gas wells, drilling in one of the richest deposits in the United States, the Wattenburg Field.
Most recently, Weld County is emerging as a leader in the renewable energy field. The promise of biofuel development and other technologies has continued to attract attention to Weld County. A sampling of Weld County companies involved in the development of renewable energy includes:
- Front Range Energy, a 40 million gallon/year ethanol production facility, located in the Great Western Industrial Park in Windsor.
- Ice Energy of Windsor, develops products that shift the largest component of residential and commercial peak demand -- air conditioning -- from expensive “on-peak” times of the day to “off-peak” periods, when energy is less expensive and less polluting.
- UQM Technologies of Frederick, develops electric power systems for battery electric, hybrid electric and fuel cell electric vehicles, under-the-hood power accessories and other vehicle auxiliaries, and distributed power generation.
- Vestas Blades A/S, headquartered in Denmark, the world’s leading producer of wind turbines, has announced the location of their North American manufacturing facility in Windsor, where the company will produce 1,200 blades annually.
Upstate Colorado Economic Development is a member of the Clean Energy Cluster, an organization that brings together researchers, businesses providing clean energy solutions, businesses buying clean energy solutions, and a host of public and not-for-profit agencies that focus on economic development and workforce services. |