Siemens Wind Power Celebrates Grand Opening of New Wind Turbine Blade Facility
September 21 2007 - 5:53PM
PR Newswire (US)
Factory Allows Siemens to Competitively Serve the U.S. Market
ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Siemens Power
Generation (PG) continues to expand its manufacturing capacities
for its growing wind business. PG officially celebrated the grand
opening of its new wind turbine blade factory in Fort Madison,
Iowa, on September 21, 2007. The factory is expected to produce
approximately 600 wind turbine blades per year, which will be
shipped to wind farms in the U.S. It's the company's first
manufacturing plant for wind turbine components in the U.S., for
which the total investment is more than euro 20 million
(approximately $28 million USD). (LOGO:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO ) (PHOTO:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070921/NYF074 ) Since the
acquisition of Bonus Energy in 2004, Siemens has made significant
strides to grow its presence in the wind energy industry in the
U.S. In 2006, Siemens ranked second in market share in the U.S.
with an installed capacity of 573 megawatts (MW). The company
expects to greatly exceed this number in 2007. So far this year,
Siemens has already received wind turbine orders totaling more than
550 MW in the U.S. Altogether, these projects have the potential to
provide clean power to nearly 160,000 homes. Siemens established
the 311,000-square-foot turbine blade manufacturing facility in
Fort Madison to better meet the strong demand for clean wind energy
in the U.S. Blades for the company's 2.3-MW wind turbines are
manufactured at the new site. The first 148-foot-long, 12-ton
blades were delivered to a customer site in Texas in August 2007.
So far, the company has hired 220 employees in Fort Madison -- a
number that is expected to grow to 260 people by the end of the
year. The total employee headcount of the Siemens Wind Division has
quadrupled since the acquisition of the Danish company Bonus Energy
in December 2004. Siemens Wind Power now employs more than 3,200
employees worldwide, including 400 people in the U.S. The number of
its wind turbine installations also has tripled since 2004. The
company expects to install 1,500 MW of new capacity worldwide in
2007. Since entering the wind industry, Siemens has greatly
expanded the capacities of its worldwide manufacturing network. In
addition to opening the wind turbine blade manufacturing facility
in Iowa, the Danish facilities in Brande and Aalberg have been
expanded, and a new blade factory was opened in Engesvang, Denmark,
in 2006. "By opening a new factory in Iowa we will be able to
increase our ability to competitively serve the important North
American market," states Andreas Nauen, head of Siemens Wind Power,
during the grand opening ceremony of the new facility. "We are
especially pleased that we were able to build our first U.S.
facility in Fort Madison. Iowa is one of the most supportive states
of wind energy and other renewables." The Power Generation Group
(PG) of Siemens AG is one of the premier companies in the
international power generation sector. In fiscal 2006 (which ended
September 30), Siemens PG posted sales amounting to more than euro
10 billion and received new orders totaling euro 12.5 billion,
according to U.S. GAAP. Group profit amounted to euro 782 million.
On September 30, 2006, PG had a work force of approximately 36,400
worldwide. Further information at:
http://www.siemens.com/powergeneration.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070904/SIEMENSLOGO
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070921/NYF074
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Siemens CONTACT: Press
Office Siemens Power Generation, Alfons Benzinger,
+49-9131-18-7034, Fax: +49-9131-18-7039, Web site:
http://www.siemens.com/ http://www.siemens.com/powergeneration
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