Vestas cuts 10 percent of Colo. work force

Vestas cuts 10 percent of Colorado manufacturing work force, blames DC delays

DENVER (AP) -- More layoffs are coming to wind turbine manufacturer Vestas.

The company announced Thursday it was cutting about 10 percent of its manufacturing work force in Colorado. It blamed the battle in Congress over a tax credit for wind generators. Congress last month granted a last-minute one-year extension of the $12 billion credit. But Vestas said that came too late for many of its customers, who stopped ordering the turbines Vestas builds at plants in Windsor and Brighton.

Vestas last month cut the work week at the two plants where it is laying off workers. It said it will shift the remaining employees to 40-hour weeks. It added that it hopes the wind market will stabilize during the rest of the year with the credit in place.