SIEMENS

If you drive north in rural southeast Iowa on Highway 61, you can see the wind turbine rotor blades from a distance. Just before the small town of Fort Madison, the blades are lined up on metal blocks like swords—except that these blades are 45 m long and are going to be used in wind turbines. Around five are added every day—and at least once a week a freight train takes a score of them to windy places all around the U.S. and Canada.

Operations Manger Allan Luers grew up not far from Fort Madison. “Five years ago semitrailer tractors were being made here—then the operation was closed,” says Luers. “Other companies in Fort Madison have also shut down in recent years: a fertilizer plant, a sheet metal factory, an electronics firm.” However, many people found a new job when Siemens' wind turbine blade manufacturing plant opened. In just three years, Siemens Wind Power has become the largest employer in Fort Madison with more than 600 employees. Two-thirds of them were previously unemployed.

An estimated additional 350 jobs—in restaurants, grocery stores, and so on—were created as a direct impact of the new plant. This success was reason enough for President Barack Obama to visit the factory in April 2010. He is the first U.S. president to visit a Siemens plant in the company's 163-year history.

Iowa and the Midwest are the “heart of America.” Here, roads are drawn as if by a ruler and lead through endless corn fields and occasionally a small town with wood-framed houses and American flags in the front yards. In the 19th and 20th centuries, industry started to spring up—from small “manufactories,” as they used to be called, to the car manufacturers in Detroit. But during the last decades, industry in the Midwest has gone downhill. More and more companies closed permanently or moved production overseas. In the fifties, 17,000 people lived in Fort Madison—today there are only 11,000.

But green technology is filling the vacuum in this and other economically-compromised regions. In 2005, Siemens had only one wind-energy employee in the U.S.; today there are over 1,000—from the U.S. headquarters for Siemens Wind Power in Orlando, Florida, to an R&D department in Boulder, Colorado, and the manufacturing plant in Fort Madison. In addition, a Siemens subsidiary in Illinois delivers generators to the wind energy industry, while a new plant under construction in Kansas will assemble wind turbine nacelles.

The Midwest is in the middle of the wind corridor that stretches from Texas in the South to the Great Lakes in the North and into Canada. Thus, Iowa's neighboring states are also potential customers. Iowa produces about 3,600 MW from wind power, second only to Texas, whose capacity is 9,400 MW. California comes in third with 2,800 MW, followed by Washington with 1,850 MW.

Harvesting Wind on the Sea. There aren't any offshore wind farms in the U.S. yet. But off the coast of Massachusetts the first wind farm, which will be named Cape Wind, is being planned. And Siemens, the worldwide leader in offshore wind energy, has been chosen to supply its turbines. More offshore wind parks are being planned for Rhode Island and New Jersey. And the potential in the U.S. is great—so far, only about 35 GW of wind power have been installed. But the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado, estimates that by 2024, including offshore facilities, 300 GW could be produced. That equals 20 % of U.S. electricity consumption. For this reason, the government is supporting the wind sector with tax breaks, grants and other incentives.

During his tour of the Fort Madison plant, President Obama saw how the gigantic wind turbine blades are made mainly by hand, without automation and in a single piece made of fiberglass, resin and balsa wood (Pictures of the Future, Fall 2009, Offshore Wind). This seamless technique enhances blade durability by avoiding potential break points. Robert Gjuraj, the plant manager who conducted the president's tour, pointed out how efficient the plant is—with its energy-saving LED-lighting and its environmentally-friendly air conditioning system. What's more, shipping the blades by train reduces their carbon dioxide-associated emissions by 80 % compared to truck-based transport.

During his visit to Fort Madison, President Obama made it clear that this work greatly supports his own energy policy vision. “Here, you manufacture blades for some of the most advanced wind turbines in the world,” he said. “Each of them is capable of powering hundreds of homes, just by harnessing the wind. You're helping stake America's claim to a clean energy future. You're blazing a trail.”

The vision of a future based on clean energy is supported by the people who work at the plant. “I'm proud that our work is important for the energy future of America and is also helping the world climate,” said Chris McPherson, who was unemployed before he joined Siemens and is now responsible for bolting blades to turbines.

Siemens is building a green future. The company has installed 9,000 wind turbines worldwide with a capacity of 11,000 MW. In the U.S., it is one of the three biggest wind turbine manufacturers. In 2006, it delivered 160 wind turbines to the country's largest wind farm, Hollow II, in Texas. Since then there have been many more orders, for which the blades now come from Fort Madison. By the fall of 2010, for example, 87 Siemens wind turbines will be commissioned at a wind farm in San Patricio County in Texas. By the end of this year, 66 Siemens wind turbines will become operational at a wind farm in Oklahoma.

Success with Environmental Technology. Green technology in the Midwest states not only means wind farms. Siemens also invests in other green technologies here, which in turn means more jobs. An example, is Siemens' electric motor facility in Norwood, Ohio, a few miles north of Cincinnati. In the 1950s, the city claimed that no other U.S. city produced more goods per capita. At that time, around 35,000 people lived there, 15,000 more than today. But the city came close to bankruptcy when General Motors shut down a production plant in 1986.Tom Williams, Mayor of Norwood, looks out the window of the Siemens plant and points to an area where GM once assembled cars. The factory was torn down and new buildings rose in its place. “It was a difficult time,” says Williams, who was a policeman back then. “But we are an attractive location that is well connected to transport routes.” In 1985 Siemens took over the plant. Today, with 380 employees, it produces large electric motors—for example, for water pumps, compressors, and fans for power plant cooling towers. Siemens is the market leader in the U.S. in this area.

Following expansion and modernization work costing $30 million, the plant was presented the “Factory of the Year 2009” award by Plant Engineering magazine. The award not only recognizes the plant's use of green technologies—for example, the recycling of industry materials, such as metals and plastic. The company also uses an efficient power control system in its manufacturing and administrative buildings. Its electric motors are also highly efficient. “They convert more than 95 percent of electrical energy into movement,” says William Finley, Director of Engineering and Technology in Norwood. “But we still want to make the motors more efficient—up to 98 %. We also build traction motors for the New York subway system that are recognized for their extremely low maintenance requirements. And we plan to produce generators for Siemens gearless wind turbines.”

With its green technology, Siemens is reaffirming the industrial tradition of the Midwest. Mike Revak, Siemens Wind Power's first employee in the U.S., is not surprised. “When Siemens went looking for a location in the U.S., the goal was to find an environment that offered tax incentives and provided qualified workers who are down to earth, hardworking, dedicated, and reliable. That's what we found in the Midwest,” he says.