Siemens Power Generation to Open Turbine Blade Manufacturing Site in Iowa

Energy Resource, August 17, 2006

ENERGY RESOURCE-17 August 2006-Siemens Power Generation to Open Turbine Blade Manufacturing Site in Iowa(C)2006 JeraOne - http://www.jeraone.com

Siemens Power Generation today announced plans to purchase a wind turbine blade manufacturing site in Fort Madison, Iowa, to serve growing demand in the U.S. for wind power generators.

The manufacturing facility will be established in an existing 224,000-square-foot building complex on nearly 127 acres in Lee County in the southeastern area of the state and near the Mississippi River. Closing for the facility is scheduled in the coming weeks.

Iowa is located in one of the largest wind generation regions in the U.S.

"This will be Siemens' first wind turbine production facility in the U.S. and will further expand the capacities of our worldwide manufacturing network," said Randy Zwirn, president and CEO of Siemens Power Generation Inc. and member of the PG Group executive management.

"Since the initial acquisition of Bonus Energy A/S in 2004, we expanded our existing blade plant in Aalborg, Denmark and opened an additional factory in Denmark, and now this is another important step in our strategy to build our global presence in the wind energy business and serve growing markets," said Zwirn.

The Fort Madison facility will be upgraded and expanded to meet the needs of the company's wind turbine business. Siemens expects that the first blades to be manufactured at the facility will be for the company's 2.3-MW wind turbines, which incorporate the Siemens-patented IntegralBlade technology.

With IntegralBlade technology, the blade is cast in one piece in a single step from glass-fiber-reinforced epoxy resin in a closed, environmentally compatible process.

Series production of rotor blades for wind turbines is scheduled to start in Fort Madison in the first half of 2007. Due the site's close proximity to water, rail and road transportation options and its central location in the United States, Siemens said it is "ideal for wind turbine blade manufacturing where logistics are critically important due to the massive size of the blades."

"Our state lies in the center of the largest wind generation region in the U.S., and therefore we're uniquely positioned to serve this promising market," said Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. "As a leader in alternative energy production, Iowans understand the enormous opportunities this announcement represents, and we look forward to adding Siemens wind turbine technology to our sources of renewable, clean power."

The state of Iowa, Lee County and the city of Fort Madison pooled resources to provide an incentive package to assist with the start-up effort. The Iowa Economic Development Board approved direct assistance from the Economic Development Set-Aside program and tax incentives from the High Quality Jobs Creation program as part of the agreement to locate the project in the state.

"Siemens has long been committed to bringing clean, efficient power generation options to the energy market. Today, as part of our environmental care strategy, our portfolio offers an array of efficient and environmentally compatible solutions, including wind power," said Zwirn.

"By expanding our wind power manufacturing capacity into the U.S., we will substantially increase our ability to competitively serve this important market, which is projected to triple by the year 2020," he said.

The company will be recruiting management, administrative and technical support personnel, as well as an estimated 200 production and maintenance employees required to manufacture the wind turbine blades. The addition of the jobs will double Siemens' existing employment base in Iowa, and all will be new jobs in Iowa specifically created to support the Siemens wind manufacturing facility.

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