The world’s largest wind turbine tower manufacturing facility, located in Pueblo, is about to get even bigger.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday morning amid blustering winds to commemorate a new expansion that is set to be complete in 2028.

CS Wind, a South Korean company with operations around the globe, plans to add 850 new jobs in Pueblo by the time the expansion is finished. The entire facility will be 1.58 million square feet.

Special guests at Tuesday's event included former South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-Kyun, the general counsel for the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. Speakers emphasized how this wind tower manufacturing plant will help the U.S. achieve long-term goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel dependence.

The approximately 650 workers currently employed in Pueblo are not part of a union, according to James Won, the head of the American division of CS Wind. Won said that none of the employees in the international company are unionized but said that they are compensated well.

The Chieftain previously reported that CS Wind was struggling to hire workers last year, but the company boosted its starting wage to $20 per hour. Won also said employees are offered benefits such as quality health care and 401(k) retirement plan matching up to 6%.

Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar said the company “isn’t anti-union” and that employees are paid a “living wage.”

“These are good-paying jobs,” Gradisar said.

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The expansion of the facility was prompted by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which includes expanded tax credits for green energy production.

Won said that the tax breaks available to CS Wind's customers — up to 40% of the cost of the towers, according to Polis — will help grow demand. Current customers include General Electric, Siemens and Vestas, the Danish company that sold the Pueblo facility to CS Wind in 2021.

Pueblo’s connectivity to the American rail system helps the company transport the towers to their final destinations, Won said. Many of the turbines are shipped to the Midwest.

The towers for wind turbines are crafted in segments from American steel. Only towers are constructed at the Pueblo facility, said Anthony Salerno, a production manager. The turbine blades and generators are crafted at other locations.

Turbine towers are built in Pueblo, but wind energy is not actively produced by CS Wind.

Pueblo has a long history of manufacturing

Manufacturing has been tied with Pueblo’s economic health for much of the city’s history.

“That proud manufacturing history continues with this facility and the expansion of this facility,” Gradisar said. “It will ensure that we'll continue to have manufacturing that will make big things in Pueblo and in the United States for decades to come.”

Energy is also a key part of Pueblo’s economy. The Comanche coal-fired power plant is set to shut down by 2031, but Xcel Energy will continue paying local taxes through 2040.

Polis said that wind energy will be crucial to help Colorado use less fossil fuels and achieve its 2030 goal of having 80% of its energy come from renewable sources. He noted that Colorado ranks seventh among other states for wind energy capacity.

CS Wind has been involved in Pueblo since 2021 when it purchased the plant from Vestas. The facility first opened in 2009 and cost $240 million.

Gradisar, as well as city councilor Dennis Flores and Pueblo Community College President Patty Erjavec, traveled to South Korea in September 2022 to meet with CS Wind executives and South Korean educational institutions.

The first phase of the expansion will cost approximately $250 million, Won said, but that price could fluctuate depending on inflation.

No funding from Pueblo’s half-cent sales tax for economic development is going to the construction of the new facility, Gradisar said.

Note: this story has been updated to show that Vestas is a Danish company.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo wind manufacturing facility plans to hire 850 new positions by 2028