Siemens to supply Direct-Drive Wind Turbines to France

Siemens received an order from France for the supply, installation and commissioning of a total of 24 direct-drive wind turbines for four French wind projects, located in the Nord Pas-de-Calais and Picardie regions in northern France. The investors for this, each with 50 Percent, are Diamond Generating Europe Limited (DGE) and the French renewable energy company EDF Energies Nouvelles (EDF EN). The model SWT-3.0-101 wind turbines ordered for these projects each have a capacity of 3 megawatts (MW) and a rotor diameter of 101 meters. This marks the first order for Siemens from France for gearless wind turbines. Erection and commissioning are scheduled for 2014. Siemens is also responsible for maintenance of the wind turbines over a period of fifteen years.

“Compared to conventional wind turbine technology, our direct-drive wind turbine has half the components and substantially fewer rotating parts,” stated Jan Kjaersgaard, CEO of Siemens Wind Power for the EMEA sales region. “This enhances reliability and reduces the maintenance scope for the plants. We are pleased to be installing this future-oriented technology for the first time onshore in France.”

France is one of the most important wind markets in Europe. The French government plans to install a total of 25 gigawatts (GW) of wind power by 2020, of which 7.5 GW was already in place at the end of 2012.

Wind power is part of Siemens’ Environmental Portfolio. In fiscal 2012, revenue from the Portfolio totaled about EUR33 billion, making Siemens one of the world’s largest suppliers of ecofriendly technologies. In the same period, our products and solutions enabled customers to reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 330 million tons, an amount equal to the total annual CO2 emissions of Berlin, Delhi, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, New York, Singapore and Tokyo.