Siemens Canada says blade number 1,000 has rolled off the production floor at the company's Tillsonburg, Ontario-based blade factory.
According to Siemens, the Tillsonburg blade plant is situated on 40 acres of land and manufactures 49-meter blades for the SWT-2.3-101 geared platform and 55-meter blades for the SWT-3.2-113 direct-drive platform. Blades produced in Tillsonburg are installed in Canadian wind farms as well as abroad, adds the turbine supplier.
Siemens says the first blade produced at Tillsonburg was one of 372 used in the commissioning of the South Kent Wind project in Chatham-Kent and part of the 270 MW agreement between Siemens, Samsung and Pattern Energy Group.
Siemens has also supplied, delivered and commissioned turbines for several other Samsung and Pattern Development wind projects in Ontario, including the recently completed 150 MW Grand Renewable Wind project, located in the province's Haldimand County.
Additionally, the Ontario-made blades will also power the 270 MW K2 Wind project and Armow Wind project, both of which are currently under construction.
The achievement, notes Siemens, is much more than symbolic. The Canadian wind energy market is growing at a rapid rate and is now the ninth largest in the world, with a current installed capacity of approximately 9.6 GW. In fact, Siemens contributed to more than half of the 1.9 GW of new capacity installed in Canada last year – a market position the turbine maker intends to maintain.
