Siemens has demonstrated its growing influence in the US wind power market, winning an order for more than 200 wind turbines from FPL Energy and announcing expansion plans for a US production facility.
The order is one of the largest ever received by Siemens for wind turbines, and brings the company’s total in the US this fiscal year to $2.4 billion. In March and April the company announced two similar orders in the US worth a combined $1.1 billion.
"This order is evidence of the tremendous growth that Siemens Energy is experiencing in the wind energy business," stated René Umlauft, CEO of the Siemens Renewable Energy Division.
Siemens will supply FPL – the largest operator of wind farms in the US – with 218 of its 2.3 MW wind turbines to be installed at several projects across the USA. Delivery will be in 2009.
To support the rapid growth of the US wind market, Siemens is to double the capacity at its wind turbine blade manufacturing facility in Iowa, where the blades for FPL’s units will be made.
Siemens says that in 2006 and 2007 it installed a total of 600 MW of wind capacity in the US for FPL Energy, which is last year announced an aggressive wind power expansion strategy.
In March and April Siemens announced orders from Cascade Wind Acquisition and Portland General Electric for over 600 MW of wind turbines to be installed in projects in Washington and Oregon states. The company is currently the third largest supplier of wind turbines in the US behind GE Energy and Vestas, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
Florida-based FPL Energy is aiming to add between 8000 and 10 000 MW of new wind capacity to its portfolio between 2007 and 2012. The company operates over 5 GW of wind capacity and ranks second in world wind power plant ownership rankings behind Iberdrola, according to Emerging Energy Research.
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