(PUEBLO, Co.) — A new manufacturing plant for wind turbine towers will bring the city of Pueblo sustainable energy and add over 800 new jobs with opportunities for students at Pueblo Community College.

“I mean, these are going to be manufacturing jobs,” Mayor of Pueblo, Nick Gradisar, said. “These kind of jobs, you can train people while they’re in high school so that when they get out of high school, they’ve got some marketable skills. It’s obviously important we train for the future.”

The new manufacturing plant will bring 850 new jobs to Colorado by 2026 and hire students from Pueblo Community College.

“And Pueblo Community College is here, and we look forward to making sure we have the right programs in place to train people for the good jobs that you provide so people can have the skills that they need to get ahead and be part of building out the future,” said Governor Jared Polis.

The plant will help train future leaders of Southern Colorado in providing employment for young people living in Pueblo.

“We want to make sure that there are companies here with a variety of jobs, professional jobs, blue collar jobs, welding jobs, painting jobs,” said Gradisar. “We want a whole variety of jobs available in Pueblo so that the people who want to remain here are able to do so.”

The 900,000-square-foot expansion will make the plant the world’s largest manufacturing plant for wind turbine towers and boost the plant’s overall production.

“Pueblo is an industrial city. It’s a city of creation, a city of building things from nails to tools to railroads,” Polis said. “Pueblo has built the West and Pueblo will continue to build the West and build our energy future in partnership with us.”

The addition of this new plant will help bring about cleaner energy to the city and bring a positive impact to the economy with more jobs.

In response to why Pueblo should keep expanding in a green way, Gradisar said, “well, because we want to have an economy here where only young people who want to remain in Pueblo can stay here. Nobody should have to leave Pueblo in order to earn a living.”

Recent legislation led to the construction of the new wind turbine tower manufacturing plant.

“What’s really pushing this expansion is the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress and signed by the President that gives their customers energy tax credits that are very significant, and which allows them to invest in wind towers and renewable energy,” said Gradisar.

The expansion will help to provide clean energy supply chains and create clean energy jobs.

“This manufacturing plant will be CS Winds largest in the world and we’re very proud of that here in Colorado,” said Polis.

The first phase of the new facility is expected to be complete by summer 2024 and phases two and three to be complete by 2028.