Siemens Wins Kansas Windfarm Deal

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - German engineering company, Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany), has secured a contract to supply wind turbines for the Alexander windfarm project, located on 7,000 acres of land in Rush County, Kansas, approximately 120 miles northwest of Wichita.

The company has been awarded a contract for 21 of its Siemens SWT-2.3-108 wind turbines, which are part of Siemens G2 platform of onshore geared products. The contract was awarded by NJR Clean Energy Ventures (NJRCEV), a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources Corporation (NYSE:NJR) (Wall, New Jersey). To date, NJRCEV has focused primarily on commercial and residential solar project development in New Jersey but wants to expand its portfolio to include onshore wind projects in the Midwestern United States.

The windfarm will have a generating capacity of 48-megawatts (MW) and the electricity generated will be sold through power purchase agreements (PPA) to two separate customers: Kansas City Board of Public Utilities (KCBPU) has signed a 20-year PPA for approximately 50% of the energy while the remainder will be purchased through a 15-year PPA by Yahoo!, Inc..

NJRCEV is spending approximately $85 million to construct, own and operate the windfarm and it expects that it will be commissioned later this Fall.

Siemens pointed out that the nacelles will be assembled at its nearby facility in Hutchinson, Kansas, while the blades will be manufactured at its blade facility in Fort Madison, Iowa.

"We have 400 employees at our Hutchinson facility, and take a tremendous amount of pride in our community, our company, supporting our customers and what we manufacture," explained Jacob Andersen, CEO Onshore Americas, Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Division. "This project has a special meaning, as the Alexander wind farm is just up the road from our nacelle assembly plant,"

He added: "Wind power in the U.S. continues to show its value as a reliable, cost-effective and clean form of energy, and this partnership between a committed investor, high-quality vendors and willing customers is a great example of the commitment to wind power and renewable energy in the U.S.".

Siemens has been operating in the U.S for around 10 years, and has installed almost 5,000 turbines.

In November last year, Industrial Info reported on NJR Clean Energy and Siemens working together on a 20.7-megawatt (MW) windfarm in Carroll County, Iowa. The $42 million project is located 65 miles northwest of Des Moines, on an 1,100-acre site. For additional information, see November 12, 2014, article - NJR Clean Energy Begins Construction on Windfarm in Iowa.

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