Wind turbines create 300 jobs

ENVIRONMENT - Siemens Canada's new wind turbine factory is hiring 300 new employees to build blades for wind turbines. The plant's location will likely be between Hamilton and Windsor, in Ontario's "manufacturing superzone" and the company is currently narrowing down the list of possible locations. The factory will need 40 to 80 acres to build and store blades which are 55 metres long each.

Siemens will be building the blades for a massive wind and solar power development by the Samsung Corporation and partner Pattern Energy. Samsung has a $437 million 25-year deal that will see them open 4 new factories in Ontario to build wind/solar equipment, which will eventually create 50,000+ new jobs in the booming green energy sector.

The steel towers to support the blades will also be built in Ontario, as will the internal infrastructure. Each finished turbine will generate 2.3 megawatts of power, more than 3 times the wind turbine at Ontario's Exhibition Place. Current plans are to build 300 such turbines providing 690 megawatts.

The Siemens plant will not be exclusive to Samsung. They will also be building blades for other wind turbine companies, becoming a major manufacturer for multiple companies.

The plant will be up and running by 2012.