REpower’s associated company PowerBlades GmbH celebrates ‘topping out‘ of its rotor blade factory in Bremerhaven

Hamburg/Bremerhaven, 29 April 2008. Today REpower Systems AG (WKN 616603) will celebrate the ‘topping out’ - a ceremony marking the completion of the roof section - of the rotor blade factory of its associated company PowerBlades GmbH in Bremerhaven’s Lunehafen. Rotor blades are to be manufactured there from August 2008 for REpower’s MM (2MW) wind turbines, for a new 3-megawatt turbine and for the REpower 5M offshore turbines in two interconnecting halls which have a total length of 677 metres. REpower, Germany’s third largest wind turbine manufacturer has a 51% stake in PowerBlades while the rotor blade supplier A&R Rotec has a stake of 49%. The blades for the REpower MM82 and MM92 turbines are currently still produced by A&R in Lemwerder. The blade factory is located in the immediate vicinity of the assembly hall for the serial production of the REpower 5M offshore turbine, which is to start production in late summer.

In their speeches to 200 invited guests, the Lord Mayor of Bremen, Jens Böhrnsen, and the Mayor of Bremerhaven, Jörg Schulz, emphasised the great importance of the offshore wind industry to the region. REpower and PowerBlades intend to take on 275 new employees for the assembly factory and rotor blade production by the end of this year; PowerBlades currently has 50 employees. Bremen’s Senator for the Economy, Ralf Nagel, and Bremen’s Senator for the Environment, Dr. Reinhard Loske, pledged their continued support for development of the new site.

Matthias Schubert, REpower’s CTO, pointed out in his opening speech: “We are proud that our company has remained committed to the potential of the offshore wind industry in Europe for such a long time with the development of the REpower 5M offshore turbine”. He continued: “Since construction of the prototype in 2004, 11 turbines have been commissioned on land and at sea. Now with our assembly hall and the PowerBlades rotor blade factory, our own production and logistics centre for offshore wind energy is coming into being here in Bremerhaven. It is a clear sign of our long-term commitment to the region which is also shown by the fact that other supplier factories are also establishing themselves in the harbour.”

In his speech, Lars Weigel, Managing Director of A&R, noted that “Bremerhaven has proven to be the right choice of location for rotor blade production thanks to the existing infrastructure and the excellent working relationships with the institutions involved.”