Siemens is expanding its global manufacturing network for wind turbine plants and is building a new production facility in Lingang New City in Shanghai. By establishing this new rotor blade and nacelle plant, the company is further strengthening its environmental portfolio. This new facility is scheduled to take up operation in the second half of 2010, initially with 400 employees. The wind turbine plants produced in Shanghai will be for the Chinese market and for export. Siemens is investing more than EUR60 million in setting up this new location.
"Siemens is expanding its commitment to environmentally-friendly energy technology in China with this new wind turbine production facility in Shanghai," declared Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of the Siemens Energy Sector and member of the managing board of Siemens AG on the occasion of the laying of the cornerstone in Shanghai on May 22, 2009. "China could soon become the largest wind energy market in the world and with our new production facility in Shanghai we are establishing an excellent starting position for meeting the growing demand of this exciting market. In addition, 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."
The new production site will have a total space of 180,000 square meters and be situated at an excellent location with regard to shipping and traffic facilities, being in the direct vicinity of the Yang Shan deep-sea harbor. Siemens will initially produce blades for 2.3 and 3.6 MW wind turbine plants. These blades will be produced using the IntegralBlade process patented by Siemens, without any glued joints that are susceptible to damage. Wind turbine plant nacelles will also be produced at this new plant. A nacelle is mounted on the top of the tower and supports the rotor as well as encloses a wind turbine plant's major components for electric power generation; 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. The first wind turbine blades and nacelles are scheduled to leave the plant in time for the EXPO 2010 international exhibition in Shanghai. Siemens has already reserved additional space in Lingang for potential expansion of this production facility, however.
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 building of a new facility for wind turbine plants in Hutchinson, Kansas (USA) were just recently announced by Siemens. Siemens also recently established rotor blade fabrication facilities in Fort Madison, Iowa (USA) and in Engesvang, Denmark. The Danish locations Brande and Aalborg have additionally been expanded and new research and development centers have also been set up in Germany, Holland, Great Britain, the USA and Denmark. The number of Siemens employees involved in the wind energy business has gown from 800 in 2004 to currently over 5500. This corresponds to an increase of 650 percent.
Wind turbine plants are an important component of the Siemens environmental portfolio, which earned the company revenues of nearly EUR19 billion in fiscal 2008, roughly a quarter of Siemens total revenues.