Samsung Picks Scotland for First European Wind Turbine Plant

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries Company Limited (SEO:010140) (Seoul, South Korea) has announced plans to invest up to €120 million ($158 million) to establish its first European wind turbine manufacturing plant in Scotland.

The company is joining the rush by other turbine manufacturers to secure suitable U.K. footholds as the country powers ahead with its ambitious offshore wind strategy.

The company aims to construct a plant at the Fife Energy Park at Methil which will be used to build its giant, 7-megawatt (MW) turbines, which are expected to be officially launched by 2015. The announcement was made by Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, at the opening of the Scottish Offshore Wind Conference in Aberdeen.

Testing of the new 7MW turbine will take place off the coast of Methil and in South Korea, before construction gets underway. SHI has also inked a multi-million-euro deal with David Brown Gear Systems, a division of engineering company Clyde Blowers, which will help supply the gearbox systems for the new turbines.

"I am extremely pleased to welcome this inward investment by Samsung Heavy Industries which further reinforces Scotland's place in the development of the next generation of offshore wind turbines," commented Salmond. "Their choice of Scotland as their first base in Europe for renewable technology development is testament to the fact this country is fast becoming the European centre for research and development in new offshore wind technologies."

The news comes in the same week as plans advanced for the creation of Europe's largest planned testing centre for offshore turbines -- the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) - off the coast of the city of Aberdeen in north eastern Scotland. For additional information, see January 31, 2012, article - Donald Trump Fails to Block Scottish Windfarm.

Mr Insik Roh, CEO of Samsung Heavy Industries, stated: "The testing of the new 7MW offshore wind turbine at the Fife Energy Park signifies a milestone in the development of Samsung's new wind turbine generator system. We hope to contribute to the Scottish economy through successful testing and certification of our cutting edge offshore wind turbine and ultimately through establishment of our manufacturing facility here in Methil."

Last year, a number of leading turbine manufacturers picked locations for similar plants to take advantage of the U.K.'s plans to build up to 25,000 MW of offshore wind in its forthcoming Round 3 series of windfarm contracts. In January 2011, German engineering giant Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) selected the Port of Hull in England for its proposed offshore turbine manufacturing and export facility while in May 2011, Vestas Wind Systems (OTC:VWDRY) (Randers, Denmark) earmarked 70 hectares of land at the Port of Sheerness in Kent, England, to build its proposed 7 MW offshore turbine, the V164-7.0 MW. For additional information see Siemens Chooses Port of Hull for Wind Turbine Plant and Vestas Picks U.K. for Offshore Turbine Plant.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.