On April 27, Siemens hosted the President of the United States, Barack Obama, for a tour and visit to its recently expanded 600,000-square-foot wind turbine blade facility at Fort Madison, Iowa. The President toured the facility – seeing a blade for a 2.3-megawatt wind turbine in the process of manufacturing. He then addressed an audience of 300 employees, visitors and local representatives highlighting the Fort Madison plant as a successful example of how clean technology can help revive a local economy.
According to Peter Loescher, president and CEO of Siemens AG, the visit by the President was a very meaningful milestone for Siemens. "This is an extraordinarily proud moment for us at Siemens. We have been investing and growing our business in America for over 100 years – investing $25 billion in the last 10 years alone. I would like to thank the President for allowing our employees to show him, personally, how plants like this can help America as she races forward in a clean technology revolution that has allowed us to create more than 1000 jobs recently. We think our Fort Madison plant is a fantastic example of how, with the right policy and market support, we are able to invest in and revitalize America's manufacturing base."
The Fort Madison plant is now just 3 years old. It was built on the site of a closed tractor-trailer manufacturing business, which, at its peak, had 250 employees.
The Siemens factory put out its first blade in 2007, expanded in 2008, and currently employs 600 people. The factory was a recent recipient of a $3.5 million tax credit from America's Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in 2010, plus additional stimulus funds administered at the state level. Siemens used this tax credit to secure additional blade molds and increase production of its next generation blade, which is designed to improve wind harvesting in low-wind conditions. The market success of this innovative technology will enable growth for the renewables market in the U.S. and has contributed to the Fort Madison plant's ability to expand and nearly double employment.
"I would also like to congratulate our employees in the Fort Madison facility. In just three years, they have quickly become a major U.S. supplier of high-quality wind turbine blades – in what we anticipate will be a promising industry supporting thousands of new jobs in a growing U.S.-based supply chain," added Eric Spiegel, president and CEO of Siemens Corporation in the U.S.
Currently, the plant is operating at a capacity which could power more than 400,000 homes in one year with clean, renewable wind energy. Siemens is currently the third-largest wind manufacturer in the U.S. and the leading off-shore wind turbine producer in the world. But Siemens' Energy portfolio is much more than just wind power. Its energy systems provide more than 1/3 of the nation's energy with technologies across the entire energy conversion chain.
In addition to its investment in Fort Madison, Siemens started construction last fall on a new facility with 400 jobs in Hutchinson, Kan., where it will build the structures that house the generating components for our wind turbines, and just last month announced a new gas turbine manufacturing facility that will be built at its site in Charlotte, N.C., where there will be another 825 new jobs created.
Siemens AG is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, and operates in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors. For more than 160 years, Siemens has built a reputation for leading-edge innovation and the quality of its products, services and solutions. With 405,000 employees in 190 countries, Siemens reported worldwide revenue of $104.3 billion in fiscal 2009. With its U.S. corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C., Siemens in the USA reported revenue of $21.3 billion and employs approximately 64,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico.
