Ritter announced that ConocoPhillips will be opening a new global technology center and corporate learning center at the Sun Microsystems/StorageTek site in Louisville.
The learning center will handle research and development of renewable energy and high tech carbon fuels recovery. Ritter said he was unclear how it could impact the Colorado economy, but says with an upsize in the renewable energy department, more jobs should be created.
He says ConocoPhillips plans to raze and rebuild the campus on the 432-acre property. The facility should be up and running by 2011 or 2012.
The announcement was made to the Rocky Mountain Asphalt Association shortly before 3 p.m.
In late January, there were reports an unnamed buyer had bought the campus from Sun Microsystems. Last year, the company had repeated layoffs.
Sun Microsystems acquired the site when they bought Storage Technology Corp. in 2005 for $4.1 billion.
ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company. It is the third-largest integrated energy company in the United States, based on market capitalization, oil and natural gas reserves.
Ritter says the tech center will be a world training center for the company and will be a research and development site for renewable energy.
According to Ritter, the company will give Colorado economic, environmental and energy security in the future.
Al Wiemer is the executive director of C2B2 - the Colorado center for biorefining and biofuels. He says Colorado is very appealing as a place for renewable energy research.
"There's a limited supply of oil. All of these companies want to be positioned with what is the next fuel is going to be. They want to be there," he said.
Along with the governor's push for renewable energy, Weimer says Colorado is home to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The state also has some of the best learning institutions for students studying renewable energy.
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