Siemens Wins Support for U.K. Wind Turbine Plant

---

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Siemens' (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) plans for a giant wind turbine operations base in the U.K. have taken a significant stride forwards following the green light from local councillors for its project at the Port of Hull in England.

Hull City Council granted permission for the €99.5 million ($128.5 million) nacelle production facility which Siemens is hoping to build with the assistance of port owner, Associated British Ports (ABP) through its planned Green Port Hull development at Alexandra Dock, Port of Hull. The Green Port Hull project is worth more than €261 million ($337 million). ABP is the U.K.'s largest ports group, which owns and operates 21 ports in England, Scotland and Wales.

Local support is vital for the project but Siemens and ABP will still have to get government sign-off on the project before work can start. Siemens wants to have the turbine plant up and running by 2014, securing a strong position in the U.K. market as the country's huge offshore windfarm boom kicks in over the coming decade. The offshore market in the U.K. is expected to be worth more than €117 billion euros ($154 billion) over the next 10 years. The country's Round 3 awards for offshore windfarms will lead to an additional 25,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity. For additional information, see January 4, 2010, news article - U.K. To Award £100 Billion in Offshore Wind Contracts.

The government's Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Davey, said the decision was "fantastic news".

"The Humber can make a serious contribution to the U.K.'s renewable energy future," Davey added. "Its location and sheer proximity to some of the potential new wind projects in the North Sea puts the region in pole position to benefit from investment in renewables. The enthusiasm of the local community has been key to the success of this project so far and it is great to see further progress being made."

Dan McGrail, project manager for Siemens, added: "We continue to work with ABP to agree the commercial terms for the site and look forward to driving the remainder of the outstanding actions and continue to make good progress in the delivery timeline."

Matt Jukes, ABP Port Director Hull & Goole, said: "Today's decision to approve the development of Green Port Hull takes us a very big step forward towards delivering this game changing project for the port, the city and our region."

At the end of April, Siemens celebrated hitting the 3,000 MW generation mark in the U.K. for wind turbines supplied and serviced by the company. Those turbines represent around 50% of the U.K.'s total wind power generation capacity, the company said. The new milestone was reached almost two years after the company broke the 2,000 MW mark while installing turbines at the Gunfleet Sands windfarm in Essex.

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.