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Siemens considers North East for £80m factory

Sites in the North East are among those being considered by German firm Siemens for a new £80m wind turbine facility which would create hundreds of jobs.

Earlier this week on bdaily, industry leaders and politicians put their backing behind the North East as an ideal base for GE’s new turbine factory planned for the UK and expected to be manned by 1,900 workers.

It has now emerged that German manufacturer Siemens – which already has a presence on Tyneside – is exploring a number of sites on the East Coast and in the North East for a similar plant.

Peter Loscher, president and chief executive of Siemens, said: “With the new wind turbine production plant in the UK we’re pushing ahead with our strategy of investments in attractive growth markets for eco-friendly technology.

“In the foreseeable future the wind power market in the UK will be characterised by major offshore projects, and we’ll extend our market leadership with the new production plant.”

Andreas Goss, Siemens’ chief executive in the UK, said: “The UK Government has created a stable framework to attract inward investment in renewables and offshore wind power in particular.

“The competition for land development, announced in the Budget last week, gives us confidence that the appropriate UK port infrastructure can be made available to support our production plans.

“The new Siemens wind turbine factory will create around 700 new local jobs once it is in production, as well as additional indirect jobs in the supply chain.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .