Siemens wins first order for new British wind turbine factory
LONDON (Reuters) - Siemens , the world's largest maker of offshore wind turbines, has won an order from British utility Scottish Power to build more than 100 of the machines for the East Anglia One project, the first order for Siemens' new UK factory in Hull.
A source close to the deal said it was worth between 750 and 850 million pounds.
Iberdrola-owned Scottish Power plans to start building the 715-megawatt wind farm off the coast of Norfolk in 2017, with the turbines set for installation by 2019, the utility said.
The turbine blades will be manufactured at Siemens' Hull factory, a 160-million pound compound to be opened in early 2017 to meet Britain's huge demand for offshore wind equipment.
Siemens obtained planning permission for the new factory on Wednesday.
Britain, the world's largest market for offshore wind projects, plans to have over 10 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in production by 2020.
Some of its largest projects, including East Anglia One, are now entering the construction phase, requiring contractors to supply huge amounts of equipment, such as blades and specialty ships.
The British government has signed subsidy contracts with offshore wind project developers that guarantee a minimum price for electricity produced from the turbines.
East Anglia One's electricity cost was set at 119 pounds per megawatt-hour in the government-led auction, compared with 140-150 pounds per MWh for other projects.
"In addition to supporting thousands of UK jobs, this project shows we are driving down the costs of offshore wind," British Energy Secretary Amber Rudd said in a statement.
Although she supports the use of offshore wind power, the newly-appointed energy secretary has initiated a process to cut subsidies for wind farms on land.
(Reporting by Karolin Schaps)
