Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the United Kingdom, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Australia, China, Brazil, Poland and the United States, and employs 29,000 people globally. , it is the largest wind turbine company in the world. Operations Vestas has installed over 66,000 wind turbines for a capacity of 100 GW in over 80 countries on five continents. the company has built production facilities in more than 12 countries, among them China, Spain and the United States. Vestas employs 29,000 people. History Vestas traces its roots to 1898 when Hans Smith Hansen bought a blacksmith shop in , West Jutland, that operated as a family business. After the second world war Vestas was founded in 1945 by his son Peder Hansen as "Vestjysk Stålteknik A/S" (West-Jutlandish steel technology). The company initially manufactured household appliances, moving its focus to agricultural equipment in 1950, intercoolers in 1956, and hydraulic cranes in 1968. It entered the wind turbine industry in 1979 and produced wind turbines exclusively from 1989. In 1997, the company placed in production the NTK 1500/60. The product was designed by Timothy Jacob Jensen and received the German IF Award and the Red Dot Award. The company's North American headquarters was relocated in 2002 from Palm Springs, California to Portland, Oregon. In 2003, the company merged with the Danish wind turbine manufacturer NEG Micon to create the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world, under the banner of Vestas Wind Systems. After a sales slump and an operational loss in 2005, Vestas recovered in 2006 with a 28% market share and increased production although market share slid to between 12.5% and 14%. Vestas began a whistleblower program in 2007, among the first in Denmark. On 1 December 2008 Vestas announced plans to expand its North American headquarters in Portland through construction of a new building, but this plan was mothballed in 2009 due to the economic recession, and in August 2010 the company announced a revised plan, scaled back in size, to expand its Portland headquarters by renovating an existing-but-vacant building. At that time, Vestas employed about 400 in Portland and committed to add at least 100 more employees there within five years; the new building will have space for up to 600 workers.