ize and scenery mattered in ConocoPhillips' quest for space for its new Global Technology and Corporate Learning centers. Rapidly running out of space at its Houston headquarters and its Bartlesville, Okla., research center, the global energy company embarked on a search to find a location to meet its needs for the coming decades.
   Employing the AngelouEconomics consultancy to guide its search, ConocoPhillips focused on the U.S. oil patch states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. The search soon zeroed in on Colorado, where ConocoPhillips looked at 25 sites, says Mary Manning, the company's general manager for global real estate and facilities services. The breathtaking views of the Rockies helped provide just the right quality-of-life cachet. A site with sufficient size was available too: the 432-acre (40-hectare) former campus of StorageTek in the northern Denver suburb of Louisville. Manning says quality of life issues were hugely important in ConocoPhillips' decision process.
   "We quickly decided Colorado offered the best location for a distinguished campus," Manning says. "Colorado has an attraction of being a place where people want to work. It's important that we be able to attract and retain personnel. This site will carry ConocoPhillips into the next 50 years. It's at the foot of the Rockies. There are a lot of positives. Access to outdoor sports and recreation is excellent, the community is excellent, there are diverse choices in housing and the schools are very good."
   ConocoPhillips is still sorting out plans for its new campus, and there has been speculation the project may eventually grow much larger. The company bought the site for US$60 million, but has announced little else besides the fact that it will house a learning center and an alternative research center. ConocoPhillips currently outsources its training. No decision has been made on employment levels at the new campus.
   A construction budget has not been established, but Manning says the investment will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. ConocoPhillips will establish a presence at the site soon and will begin the permitting process, but construction is probably 18 months away, she says.
   "That's the $64,000 question about employment," Manning says. "We are just at the very beginning of our work internally with our business units. It will be an important place where we look at alternative energies to move ConocoPhillips to the forefront and write the next chapter in our corporate history."
   Manning says it wasn't possible to retrofit the existing buildings on the site, so ConocoPhillips will be "deconstructing" them with an eye toward recycling as much as possible. The new buildings will be "green and on the leading edge" of technology, she says.
   ConocoPhillips' site selection process was confidential as it unfolded, even within the company, as just a half dozen people knew a search was under way. When the Louisville site was identified as the choice, the company created a company called "ST Acquisitions" to purchase the property without revealing its identity.
   "First of all, if you start making your plans public, you can create a lot of anxiety, and maybe the right information is not released at the right time," Manning says. "We wanted to make sure we didn't negatively impact our existing employees."
   Manning notes that ConocoPhillips did not ask for any state or local incentives during the process. Now that the decision is made, the company is talking with the governments about transportation improvements in the area to handle growing traffic concerns.
   "We wanted to make sure we were making the right decision, and we developed a great relationship with the state and city. It's very unusual to see a site selection of this magnitude with no negotiations for incentives ahead of time. Even in my own background, this is unusual."
   ConocoPhillips already has a sizeable presence in Colorado with about 600 employees at offices around the state. The company has had strong relationships with the state's research universities and with the Dept. of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden and the Colorado Center For Biorefining and Biofuels (C2B2) at the University of Colorado in Boulder.
   "We look forward to expanding these relationships," Manning says. "We are a great fit with Colorado."    Colorado once had a minor league baseball team known as the Denver Zephyrs. While that team moved to New Orleans long ago, its namesake west winds continue to provide the state with a valuable natural resource in this area of renewable energy development.
   Colorado's first wind farm, Ponnequin, located in the state's northeast, went online in the spring of 1999. The state has subsequently grown to be the sixth largest in the U.S. in terms of wind power capacity with 1,067 MW. Colorado now has nine wind projects, ranging from a one turbine operation at a Wal-Mart in Aurora to the newest and largest wind farm, Cedar Creek, which opened in late 2007.
   Cedar Creek, located near Grover in Weld County near the Wyoming border, is a joint venture between international investment and asset management company Babcock & Brown and BP Alternative Energy. Babcock & Brown is one of the top global wind energy developers. The 300-MW facility has 274 wind turbines and provides enough electricity for 90,000 homes.
   Renewable Energy Systems Americas is one of the latest companies drawn to Colorado by its growing prominence in renewable energy and the availability of qualified college grads. RES-Americas moved its headquarters from Austin, Texas, to the Denver suburb of Broomfield during the first quarter of 2008.The company is a major developer of wind energy projects, having developed more than 12 percent of the wind power capacity in the U.S.
   "One of the first things we recognized is that if you look at the windy areas in this country, Colorado is really at the center," says Craig Mataczynski, president of RES-Americas. "If you really draw a circle … it kind of centers on Colorado. It makes a lot of sense."
   The other big attraction is the required skill sets that are in abundant supply in Colorado, Mataczynski says.
   "There are universities here that graduate more students with the skills we need, and that is not generally available in Austin. There are of a lot of the exact type of technical skills we are looking for here such as civil and electrical engineers who focus on power engineering aspects."
   RES-Americas also considered other sites in Texas, Chicago, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.
   "We have an outdoors-oriented employee base. Here, you have year-round activities. There is always something to do in the area. We looked at the relative costs of office space and travel and the ability to recruit and retain talent. Colorado moved to the top of the list at that point."
   Mataczynski says the new headquarters will be home to about 80 employees when the move is completed this spring. That includes some new hires. He expects that staff to double in the coming years as business grows. RES-Americas will maintain a staff of about 25 in its former home of Austin, he says.
   "Texas is a very good market, and we will maintain an office there. Our move was not motivated by anything negative about Austin or Texas."
   RES-Americas blew into Colorado about the same time that one of RES-America's good customers, Denmark-based Vestas Blades, opened its wind blade manufacturing plant in Windsor. The 400,000-sq.-ft. (37,160-sq.-m.) plant will produce 1,800 giant wind blades annually and will eventually employ 650.    Colorado's academic prowess in the clean energy sector is getting a boost from the creation of Colorado State's Clean Energy Supercluster and its business arm, Cenergy. The Supercluster aims to harness the efforts of more than 100 faculty members now participating in developing alternative energy solutions and policies. CSU also has plans to develop a clean energy research park.
   "We will be looking at putting together a proactive business development team to look at the university's strength in clean energy," says Mark Wdowik, CEO of CSU Ventures, a subsidiary of Colorado State University Research Foundation, who will also head Cenergy. "We have core strengths in wind energy, solar cells, carbon sequestration and biofuels development. We will partner with existing businesses and entities to drive products at the far end."
   Wdowik says Colorado is developing a critical mass of expertise in clean energy that is driving companies to move to the state.
   "The stars are aligning," Wdowik says.