(Source: The Oregonian)
By Ted Sickinger, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
Aug. 14--REpower USA Corp., the sales and project management arm of a German wind turbine manufacturer, said Friday that it would relocate its U.S. headquarters from Portland to Denver.
The company plans to maintain a service and parts distribution facility in Portland, but its administrative, sales and project management staff will be moving to Denver, where the company said its office would employ 25 relocating or new employees, and would grow to double that size in a year.
REpower chief executive Steve Dayney said the decision was primarily driven by geography, chiefly the company's desire to be more centrally located and closer to its newer wind power projects. But REpower is also taking advantage of a new Colorado state income-tax credit that took effect this month for companies that create at least 20 jobs.
Both Colorado and Oregon have made clean tech and sustainability employment the key planks of their economic development strategies. Oregon and the City o Portland did offer a package of incentives to retain the REpower jobs, but Colorado may have been a bit more aggressive, said Patrick Quinton, a business recruitment manager at the Portland Development Commission.
Oregon has successfully landed a number of new solar manufacturers and state and local economic development officials have put a $31.5 million incentive package on the table to retain the North American headquarters of Vestas, the Danish wind turbine manufacturer. Vestas has slowed plans to build a new headquarters in Portland because of the economic downturn, however.
Ted Sickenger; The Oregonian
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