Siemens announces major Aussie wind farm

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.