Giant blade manufacturing coming to Iowa

Siemens AG of Germany is purchasing and expanding an existing 224,000 square-foot building complex in Fort Madison to begin U.S. production of giant, fiberglass blades for wind turbines. Manufacturing on the nearly 127 acre site in Lee County is expected to employ an estimated 250 people.

"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.

"This is another important step in our strategy to build our global presence in the wind energy business, and service growing markets," added Zwirn.

The Fort Madison facility will be upgraded and expanded in order to more suitably meet the needs of the company's wind turbine business. The first blades to be manufactured in Iowa will incorporate the Siemens-patented Integral Blade technology.

With this 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 to the site's close proximity to water, rail and road transportation options, and its central location in the United States, 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 Governor 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 attractive incentive package to assist with 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.

October 2006