First Giant Blades Produced from Siemens' $391 Million U.K. Plant

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The first giant blade from Siemens' (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) new £310 million ($391 million) manufacturing plant in Hull, England has been produced, heralding the arrival of more powerful offshore wind turbines.

The 75-metre long blade, which is destined for the 573-megawatt (MW) Race Bank offshore wind project, is the first of hundreds that will be produced there for use on next generation 7-MW and 8-MW turbines. The project is made up of construction, assembly and service facilities at Green Port Hull and a new rotor blade manufacturing facility in nearby Paull, in the East Riding. Around 700 people are employed at both sites and this is expected to rise to more than 1,000 next year when it goes into full production. For additional information, see January 27, 2015, article - Work on New U.K. Wind Turbine Plant Starts.

The launch of the first blade was witnessed by the U.K.'s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industry, Greg Clark, who commented: "This is exactly the relationship we want to see between our large infrastructure projects in the U.K. and our supply chain companies as part of our industrial strategy. In the coming years, the new offshore wind projects that this factory will supply could generate enough clean electricity to power over three million homes and businesses--all with wind turbine blades produced by the dedicated and highly skilled Siemens workforce right here in Hull. Since 2010, there has been over £52 billion ($65.6 billion) of investment in renewables in the U.K."

Siemens U.K. Chief Executive Juergen Maier, added: "We are witnessing probably the best example of industrial strategy in action we have in the U.K. today--creating new, local, skilled jobs, sustainable growth and the latest renewable technology, benefiting the UK economy and our society. One of the greatest challenges we have is to increase productivity in the UK and generate growth while decarbonising our energy supply and reducing emissions to achieve a sustainable energy mix."

The U.K. has become an attractive location for major wind energy players looking to set up manufacturing facilities. In March 2013, the first dedicated offshore wind turbine terminal in the U.K. or Ireland was completed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Danish energy major DONG Energy (Fredericia, Denmark) and ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) (Glasgow, Scotland). For additional information, see March 1, 2013, article - U.K. gets First Offshore Wind Terminal.

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