Today, Siemens celebrated the topping out ceremony for its new wind turbine manufacturing facility in Cuxhaven, Germany.
The structural steel uprights now stand for the production building, which will offer 56,000 square meters of floor space for Siemens. The company invested roughly EUR 200 million into the building, which marks Siemens’ first offshore wind turbine production plant in Germany.
“The new manufacturing plant is part of our efforts to establish offshore wind power as a key pillar of a sustainable energy mix,” comments Markus Tacke, CEO of Siemens’ wind power and renewables division. “At the same time, we’re creating up to 1,000 attractive jobs here and thereby supporting sustainable structural change in the coastal region.”
Siemens says it has already received almost 1,600 job applications so far. A number of suppliers who will serve the plant have also announced plans to establish local businesses.
The ceremony was attended by Enak Ferlemann, Parliamentary state secretary; Daniela Behrens, Lower Saxony’s state secretary of economic affairs; and Dr. Ulrich Getsch, mayor of Cuxhaven.
“Siemens’ new production plant in Cuxhaven sets an important signal for further expanding offshore wind power in Germany,” says Ferlemann. “The power generated by offshore wind farms will contribute substantially to our future energy mix while simultaneously helping us to achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement.”
Construction of the production building, which, in places, will stand 30 meters tall, is scheduled for completion by mid-2017. A two-story building enclosing some 3,800 square meters of floor space is being erected next to the production building to house offices and the site cafeteria.
The new plant will begin producing nacelles for Siemens’ next-generation offshore wind turbines (between 6 MW and 8 MW) in mid-2017.
In addition, Siemens’ new wind turbine blade manufacturing plant in Hull, England, is set to begin operation next week.
