President Obama visited Siemens' recently expanded 600,000 square-foot wind turbine blade facility in Fort Madison, Iowa. The president toured the plant and was able to see a blade for a 2.3 MW 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.Â
‘We have been investing and growing our business in America for over 100 years – investing $25 billion in the last 10 years alone,’ says Peter Loescher, president and CEO of Siemens AG. ‘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 1,000 jobs recently.’
The Fort Madison plant is about three years old and was built on the site of a closed tractor-trailer manufacturing business.Â
The Siemens factory produced 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 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 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.
SOURCE: Siemens AG
