Siemens Energy is to build a new production plant for offshore wind turbines in the UK, with the target ultimately of expanding what it sees as its market leadership in offshore wind power worldwide. And there is some justification for this view. Siemens has already successfully implemented eleven projects with a combined capacity in excess of 1 GW, with more than half in the UK. In the future, the UK market will continue to grow significantly: It is expected that by 2015 more than 1000 wind turbines will be have been erected in British waters. With the new plant Siemens wants to play a major part in meeting this growing demand. It is currently exploring a number of sites on the English east coast and in the northeast at which to locate the new factory,
“With the new wind turbine production plant in the UK we’re pushing ahead with our strategy of investments in attractive growth markets for ecofriendly technology. In the foreseeable future the wind power market in the UK will be characterized by major offshore projects, and we’ll extend our market leadership with the new production plant,” said Peter Löscher, President and CEO of Siemens AG. In Round 3 of the development program it is anticipated that offshore projects with a combined capacity of 32 GW will be implemented in the UK by 2020, which could meet a quarter of Britain’s power demand. At the beginning of the year, Siemens Financial Services secured the go-ahead together with Mainstream Renewable Power for development of the Hornsea 4-GW zone as part of Round 3.
“The British government has established attractive terms and conditions for investors in renewables. This applies in particular to offshore wind power,” said Andreas J. Goss, CEO of Siemens UK. “The planned production plant in the UK will create more than 700 new jobs. There will also be more new jobs in the area of logistics and at suppliers. We’re intending to make investments in the high double-digit million range.” Siemens is currently appraising the suitability of potential sites for the production plant, both on the east coast and in the northeast of the UK, with a special focus on the harbor infrastructure.
Siemens has accumulated 19 years of experience in the erection of offshore wind turbines and has a current order backlog of more than 3000 MW. In the UK Siemens is market leader both for onshore and offshore wind power. Today, approximately 40 percent of the wind power generated in the UK is produced with Siemens wind turbines. Siemens is also leader in the UK in the grid connection of offshore wind farms. The company has been contracted to execute grid connection for three-quarters of the projects, chief among them being the London Array offshore wind farm, which in its first phase will have a capacity of 630 MW. Siemens will supply 175 wind turbines and has also been contracted to implement the grid connection scheduled for 2012.
In order to achieve the target of becoming one of the world’s three leading producers of wind turbines by 2012, Siemens is expanding its wind power production capacities worldwide. Back in 2007, Siemens opened a rotor blade production facility in Iowa, USA. In Kansas, the company is also building a nacelle production plant. In the middle of the year Siemens wants to start operations at a wind turbine manufacturing plant in China. The company has also announced the construction of a production facility in India. It is anticipated that the first turbines will be built there in approximately two years time.
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