New wind production facility for Siemens in USA

11 May 2009


German engineering giant Siemens says that a planned new wind turbine manufacturing plant in the USA will help the company to meet rapidly growing demand for the equipment in both North and South America.

Construction of the 300 000 sq ft (27 870 sq m) facility will start in August 2009 at a site in Hutchinson, Kansas. The plant will produce nacelles for Siemens’ 2.3 MW wind turbine product family, with the first unit to be shipped in December 2010.

The factory will produce around 650 nacelles per year – equivalent to 1500 MW of installed wind turbine capacity – and will help Siemens to meet demand for wind turbines in the region. It will initially create around 400 jobs.

“Just two years ago we opened a rotor blade manufacturing facility in Fort Madison, Iowa. By expanding our investment in Kansas, we are strengthening our presence in the US and, at the same time, we are increasing the proximity to our US customers,” said René Umlauft, CEO of Siemens Energy’s Renewable Energy Division. “This new location will enable us to serve them more rapidly and cost-effectively.”

The Hutchinson site gives Siemens a position at the heart of the USA with good transport logistics, says the firm. Kansas also has excellent wind potential.

Siemens’ global wind power business has grown from just 800 employees in 2004 to over 5500 today, while its portfolio of ‘environmental’ products generates annual sales of around EUR19 billion. The company recently said that it is “focusing more than ever” on expanding its position in green technologies and is well-placed to generate additional business from government stimulus programmes.

Siemens’ Renewable Energy Division reported a 65 per cent increase in new orders in the second quarter of fiscal 2009 compared with the same quarter in 2008. The increase was mainly due to two major wind turbine orders from European customers.

The announcement came only days after Vestas, the world's leading wind turbine manufacturer, revealed that it was to close its UK blade manufacturing facility on the Isle of Wight, owing to a severe drop in demand caused mainly, says the company, by planing bottlenecks in the UK system coupled with the effects of the recession.




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