GERMAN engineering company Siemens says it has secured its first contract to build a major wind farm in Australia. It said on Wednesday the facility would supply electricity to some 180,000 homes. The New Zealand-based Trust Power utility would operate the 90 wind turbines some 140 kilometres north of Adelaide. It said the cost of the Snowtown II project was $A439 million. Siemens, which gave no details of the deal's value, said the wind turbines with a total power generating capacity of 270 megawatts would be operational by 2014. The turbines would use new gearless turbines and longer blades, and would be cost cheaper than the older. Source: Sam Daily Times
