Hagan Applauds Siemens Energy Decision To Add 825 Jobs In Charlotte

Press Release

U.S. Senator Kay R. Hagan (D-NC) today applauded Siemens Energy for creating a new hub in Charlotte to manufacture gas and steam turbines and generators. The plant is expected to bring an initial 450 jobs to the city and 825 jobs by 2014. The new plant is partly funded by federal tax-exempt bonds made available by a Recovery Act program that spurs economic development.

"I am thrilled with Siemens' decision to continue investing in Charlotte by building a new plant and bringing an additional 825 jobs to the city," Hagan said. "A number of other cities competed for this new plant, and Siemens' choice of Charlotte proves the city is well positioned to become a national clean-energy center. The turbines and generators created at this plant will enable the production of clean, America-made energy. This is just another example of how the Recovery Act is working to both create jobs-my No. 1 priority-and jumpstart a new energy economy for the country."

This new plant will join the Siemens' large steam turbine and generator manufacturing site already in Charlotte, which currently employs close to 800 people. The company plans on investing $130 million into the city, and will begin construction of the new site in the summer of 2010. Siemens will use the new facility as a base for its sales domestically as well as its exports to the Middle East, South America and Asia.

Last December, Hagan signed on as a co-sponsor to S. 2900, The Gas Turbine Efficiency Act, which would authorize $85 million to create a new program at the Department of Energy to increase the efficiency of the nation's natural gas turbine fleet. Siemens is one of four major gas turbine manufactures in the country, and the program would likely support research and development efforts underway at the company's Charlotte facilities.

Siemens Energy is a leading supplier worldwide of a variety of products meant for the generation, transmission and distribution of power. It currently employs more than 10,000 people in the United States, and by 2014, it expects to employ more than 1,500 in Charlotte.

In January, Hagan announced that Celgard, a lithium-ion battery component producer based in Charlotte, would add 289 jobs and invest $91 million in infrastructure in Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties.

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