Aerospace In Colorado Is Ready For Liftoff, But Infrastructure Needs Weigh On Industry

Aerospace and defense are industries with deep roots in Colorado and metro Denver, providing part of the foundation on which the area’s economy was built decades ago. 

Local economic development officials want to ensure that these industries remain integral to the success of the region, but underbuilt infrastructure is a hurdle on the path.

The state has an excellent talent and education pipeline for the aerospace sector, but investment in infrastructure is crucial, said Tim Vanderhoof, vice president of economic development at the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corp.

“Utilities, utilities, utilities. We need to have water, wastewater, natural gas, electricity,” Vanderhoof said during Bisnow’s State of Aerospace event Aug. 27 at Inverness Denver. “Without that, we’re stopped. Talent and real estate are usually what are looked at first, [but] utilities are probably right up there with it.”

Vanderhoof said there is an ongoing effort in the state to upgrade systems, “whether it’s additional transformers, substations, the right size lines, fiber [is] another important piece.”

“That, to me, is paramount,” he said.

He also pointed out that water and wastewater capacity remains a challenge in Colorado, especially as a lot of technology requires large amounts of water. An average semiconductor manufacturing facility can use 10 million gallons of so-called ultrapure water daily, or as much water as is used by 33,000 U.S. households each day, according to a July post on the World Economic Forum’s website.

Aerospace is growing quickly, with employment in the industry growing by 26.3% in the last five years, according to the Office of Economic Development and International Trade. More than 2,000 aerospace businesses employ more than 55,000 employees directly and another 185,000 indirectly, by OEDIT’s count.

OEDIT said Colorado was also “attracting federal contracts at a record pace this past year,” with more than $23B awarded in federal contracts, another $12.5B economic impact for the state’s military bases and $3.4B toward Colorado-based federal labs.

But the state’s infrastructure isn’t suited to the specialty uses of aerospace companies.

“What we’re seeing is that the infrastructure is largely here,” said Monica Palko, chief legal and administrative officer with York Space Systems. “It’s actually abundant in this area, but it needs to be tailored at times to adjust to the aerospace industry and next-generation space industry. And I concur that energy management to the facilities is a very important aspect of that.”