Siemens throws more money at already-giant wind business

Already a major player in the wind-turbine business, Siemens wants more. It’s just announced plans to invest more than $213 million (€150 million) to expand its wind business over the next two years.

Among the projects those funds will support:

• Two new research and development centers to be set up in the Danish towns of Brande and Aalborg.
• Adjusting the capacity of its Danish production plants to match the growing demand for offshore wind turbines in Europe.
• Expanded office space at its headquarters in Brande to accommodate more employees.
• Open a new center of dompetence by 2012 in the Danish city of Vejle to support its offshore wind-energy business.

Siemens Wind Power already operates multiple centers of competence to enhance wind-energy R&D activities. They are located in Taastrup, Denmark; Boulder, Colorado; Sheffield and Keele, UK; Aachen, Germany; and The Hague, The Netherlands. Siemens also opened two new production facilities in China and the US in 2010.

“Our investments in R&D and the extension of production facilities will pave the road for our global expansion,” said Jens-Peter Saul, CEO of the Siemens Wind Power Business Unit. “We will continue to expand our global production network and to regionalize our sales and project management functions to get closer to the customer. Further factories are planned in the UK, in Canada, Russia and India.”