Siemens, the dominant supplier of turbines to the UK's onshore and offshore wind market, is to expand its operations in Scotland by establishing a new projects and construction hub in Livingston, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
The company, which already employs 600 people in Scotland in Aberdeen, Leith, Cumbernauld and Wishaw, is "actively recruiting" to fill positions for the new base, which will have capacity for 30 employees.
Grant Walker, Siemens managing director of onshore wind in Great Britain and Ireland, said the investment would support about 100 jobs elsewhere, "most of them in fields in the middle of Scotland or Ireland building wind farms".
He said: "The Scottish supply chain is something I'm really keen to build up. The investment in Livingston will basically be a project and construction hub for the business. We will have construction management, we will have quality control, and health and safety all based in Livingston. As a logistics base it will service the UK and Ireland."
Walker added that Siemens is working with Strathclyde University on an apprenticeship scheme. "We would like to get more installation technicians into the company. Scotland is very much a long-term commitment for us," he said.
He also praised the Scottish Government's role in promoting renewable power, saying: "There is a clear commitment to renewable targets in Scotland and clearly there is all the support that as an industry we could look for. The time is right to show that we are committed to delivering the technology ... as a Scottish-born engineer I am proud of the way that we have taken a lead."
Siemens-built turbines already installed provide no less than 4.5GW or 45% of the UK's 10GW of installed capacity, a proportion that is expected to expand as major offshore developments are built out. Currently most of the output is from onshore turbines (2.3GW), but the proportion is expected to diminish because offshore wind farms contain "larger machines, and more of them".
Teeside-based Walker, who hails from Coatbridge and is a chemical engineering graduate from Strathclyde University, was appointed head of onshore wind for the UK and Ireland in February this year, having joined Siemens UK in 2005. Prior to that he worked in senior roles in industry including DuPont and ICI in the UK and US.
Scotland has been an early adopter of Siemens' most advanced types of gearless turbines, the 1.3M and 2.3M and, most recently, the 3DD (direct drive) which has a tower of 94 metres (one-third higher than Edinburgh's Scott Monument), and a rotor diameter of 101m. "Among the first in the world" of the giant models have already been installed at Millour Hill, near Dalry in Ayrshire and Calder Water in South Lanarkshire. An even larger 6MW Siemens turbine is currently being tested offshore near Hunterston.
Walker, who declined to comment on the potential effects of independence on the energy market in Scotland, claimed their popularity north of the Border was due to them being "particularly suited to the high and turbulent wind conditions" here.
Siemens, which has operated in the UK for more than 100 years, has four divisions active in Scotland: energy; industry; healthcare; and infrastructure (notably rail) and cities.
Niall Stuart, chief executive of Scottish Renewables, said: "We welcome the latest commitment from Siemens, which indicates a growing confidence in the renewable energy industry in Scotland by major global players. Siemens is one of several large international companies which have identified Scotland as a world leader in renewables."
A report last week from Audit Scotland found the Scottish Government had made "steady progress" towards its renewable energy targets for 2020, but noted the targets remained challenging. "We estimate that to meet the renewable electricity target alone, average annual increases in installed capacity need to double ... The Scottish Government is two-fifths of the way towards achieving its electricity target, but meeting it relies on the continued expansion of wind technology, both on land and at sea."
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