Windsor, CO - Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet toured the Vestas manufacturing plant in Windsor to see first-hand the company's record growth. Bennet was joined by Vestas Americas President Chris Brown, Weld County Commissioners Sean Conway and Steve Moreno, and Stacy Johnson from Windsor Economic Development. Bennet recently secured a 5-year extension of the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC), which provides wind production companies with a tax credit of 2.3 cents per kilowatt-hour of energy produced. The credit helps provide stability and support for the growing renewable industry in Colorado.

"Innovative companies like Vestas are helping diversify our energy sector, boost our economy, and create new jobs up and down the supply chain," Bennet said. "Colorado is home to roughly 7,000 wind energy workers and more than 1,000 of them work right here at this plant. We fought to secure an extension of the wind PTC to provide more certainty for businesses and workers and to support their continued growth, and we will continue working towards a long-term energy strategy that supports our state's diverse energy economy."

Colorado ranks tenth in the nation for installed wind energy capacity. Vestas globally increased its workforce by 20 percent in 2015 and has nearly doubled their Colorado workforce since then. The Windsor plant is currently undergoing a 100,000 foot expansion.

Bennet secured a five-year extension of the wind PTC as a part of the end of the year tax extenders bill. Any project that begins construction before January 2022 and is completed before January 1, 2024 will be eligible for the credit.

This is the fourth stop on Senator Bennet's Pathways to Innovation tour, a three-day, multi-stop tour. Bennet will be traveling up and down the Front Range visiting Colorado companies to highlight the factors driving the state's thriving innovation economy and to discuss steps to continue growth.