The German multinational has earmarked approximately €100 million ($133 million) for the three locations, which it hopes will enable it to move up the rankings among wind turbine suppliers. The company has already announced the construction of other wind turbine production facilities in the UK, India and China, and a joint venture for the production of wind turbine components for the Russian market.
Siemens celebrated the grand opening of the new wind turbine nacelle assembly facility in Hutchinson, Kansas on 3 December. The 300,000-square-foot facility will produce nacelles for the Siemens 2.3-MW and 3.0-MW wind turbines.
“Ecofriendly energy sources such as wind power offer excellent prospects,” said Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of the Siemens Energy Sector. “The global wind power market will grow from about €30 billion ($40 billion) annually to as much as €216 billion ($287 billion) by 2030. We see major growth potential in particular in the US and China.”
Over the last five years the average annual growth rate of wind power installations in the US was 39 percent. With 10,000 MW in newly erected wind turbines and a total installed capacity of 35,000 MW in 2009 the US was the world’s most important wind market, followed by the Chinese market, which grew from approximately 14,000 MW to 26,000 MW. Since 2005, the installed wind generating capacity in China has doubled every year. By 2020, China wants to have wind turbines with a combined capacity of 150,000 MW on line which equals three times the installed wind power capacity of all of Europe today.
“With a record order backlog of more than ten billion Euros and the rapid expansion of our international manufacturing network, we have an outstanding setup up to become one of the world’s top three wind turbines providers by 2012,” added Dehen.
Internationalisation is one of the main pillars of Siemens´ wind power strategy. “In two to three years time we’ll have twelve wind turbine production facilities in seven countries. We’ll thus have even closer customer intimacy,” said René Umlauft, CEO of the Siemens Renewable Energy Division. Currently, the company has seven manufacturing facilities in three countries. “We’re also working intensively on further reducing costs through the industrialization of production processes and innovations such as our direct drive wind turbine. Over the last two years we’ve tripled our wind power R&D budget and, in 2011, we’ll continue to increase it significantly. Our mid-term aim with wind power is to achieve full grid parity with fossil fuels,” said Umlauft.
Wind turbines are part of Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio. In fiscal year 2010, revenue from the Portfolio totalled around€28 billion ($37 billion), making Siemens the world’s largest supplier of ecofriendly technologies.
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