Siemens to strengthen wind power business in North America

The wind energy order placed by the utility Oklahoma Gas & Electric encompasses 98 wind turbines and also includes the first delivery of three machines from the new generation of direct drive wind turbines.

Siemens also continues to post successes in Canada, too: The company has signed a framework agreement with Samsung C&T Corporation for the supply of wind turbines with a combined capacity of 600 MW, which is sufficient to supply 240,000 Canadian households with ecofriendly electricity.

The wind turbines are destined for various wind farm projects in Ontario. Siemens has also announced that it intends to invest in setting up a new rotor blade manufacturing facility in Canada and thus wants to create up to 300 jobs.

“North America is a very important market for wind power,” said René Umlauft, CEO of Siemens´ Renewable Energy Division. Before the end of this calendar year Siemens will be starting operations at its new wind turbine nacelle manufacturing plant in Hutchinson, Kansas.

“With our rotor blade production in Canada we’re pushing ahead with the regionalization of our manufacturing network in key wind energy markets. Bringing our new generation of direct drive wind turbines to Oklahoma is the first step in establishing this game-changing technology in North America,” added Umlauft.

Wind turbines are part of Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio. In fiscal 2009, revenue from the Portfolio totaled about EUR23 billion, making Siemens the world’s largest supplier of ecofriendly technologies. In the same period, the company’s products and solutions enabled customers to reduce their CO2 emissions by 210 million tons. This amount equals the combined annual CO2 emissions of New York, Tokyo, London and Berlin.

www.siemens.com/energy