Siemens to build wind turbine plant in Kansas
The facility in Hutchinson, Kansas, about 60 miles northwest of Wichita, will create about 400 jobs, Siemens Energy said in a statement.
The company said it selected Hutchinson because it is near the geographic center of the lower 48 states and has good transportation logistics.
Kansas is 12th among U.S. states for installed wind capacity, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
The new plant will manufacture nacelles, or the structures that house a wind turbine's generating components, including the gearbox, drive train and control electronics.
Construction is expected to begin in August, and the first 90-ton nacelle is expected to be shipped in December of 2010.
The factory's planned annual output is 650 nacelles, or 1,500 megawatts.
Siemens already has a U.S. wind turbine blade plant in Ft. Madison, Iowa, and a wind turbine research and development center in Colorado, the company said.
Related News
Electricity retailer Griddy's unusual plea to Texas customers: Leave now before you get a big bill
DALLAS - Some retail power companies in Texas are making an unusual plea to their customers amid a deep freeze that has sent electricity prices skyrocketing: Please, leave us.
Power supplier, Griddy, told all 29,000 of its customers that they should switch to another provider as spot electricity prices soared to as high as $9,000 a megawatt-hour. Griddy’s customers are fully exposed to the real-time swings in wholesale power markets, so those who don’t leave soon will face extraordinarily high electricity bills.
“We made the unprecedented decision to tell our customers — whom we worked really hard to get — that they…
