Siemens Breaks Ground For Chinese Wind Turbine Plant

Germany’s Siemens (NYSE: SI) broke ground last week on a new wind turbine manufacturing plant in Shanghai, marking the company’s entry into China’s wind energy market.

Siemens Wind Power Blades (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., with an initial investment of RMB 581 million (EUR 64 million), is expected to begin operation in the second half of 2010.

"Siemens is laying its foothold in the fast-growing wind energy market in China with this new wind turbine production facility in Shanghai," said Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of the Siemens Energy Sector and Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG on today’s ceremony. "We are also rigorously advancing the internationalization of our manufacturing network for wind turbines to optimally meet the needs of our customers in Asia, Europe and America."

With a total space of 180,000 square meters, the new production site will initially produce blades for 2.3 and 3.6 megawatts (MW) wind turbine plants.

Wind turbine plant nacelles will be produced at this new plant at a later stage. A nacelle is mounted on the top of the tower and supports the rotor as well as encloses the wind turbine plant’s major components; these include the gearbox, the drive train as well as the control electronics.

The production capacity for the new facility is initially planned at 500 MW annually. Siemens has already reserved additional space in Lingang for potential expansion of this production facility.

China has witnessed leapfrogging development of wind energy in the past few years. By end of 2008, wind power capacity of China reached 12.21 gigawatts (GW), accounting for 10% of the world total and the fourth largest in the world. Wind energy is expected to grow by 30% annually in China until up to 2015.

Since Siemens entered the market for wind turbine plants through the acquisition of the Danish company Bonus Energy in 2004, it has substantially expanded its worldwide fabrication capacities. Plans for erection of a new facility for wind turbine plants in Hutchinson, Kansas (USA) were just recently announced by Siemens.