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FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Germany's Siemens AG's (NYSE:SI) (SI) Siemens Energy has been awarded a second major order for a wind farm in the U.S. with a capacity of nearly 325 megawatts, or MW, the company said Thursday.

The combined value of the two orders totals more than $1.1 billion. Siemens will supply 141 units of its 2.3-megawatt turbines for the Biglow Canyon Wind Farm Phases 2 and 3 in Sherman County in Oregon.

The purchaser is Portland General Electric Company (NYSE:POR) (POR), a fully integrated utility that serves more than 804,000 customers in Oregon. The combined value of the two orders totals more than $1.1 billion.

This is the second major wind order from the Pacific Northwest that Siemens has publicized within one week. The Germany-based company Monday announced an order for 130 wind turbines that would produce nearly 300 MW in Washington State.

In view of the ongoing strong demand for wind power plants, Siemens plans to triple its capacities in the coming years and widen its market share significantly. By 2011, Siemens Wind Power aims to nearly double its market share in newly-installed capacity, an increase from the present level of 8%-9% to at least 15%. This corresponds to an increase of the newly-installed load from 1,500 megawatts in 2007 to 4,500MW in 2011, Andreas Nauen, head of the wind energy business at Siemens, said in December.

Siemens is among the three leading wind energy producers in the U.S. with more than 2,000 MW installed.

The chief executive of Siemens' peer Suzlon Energy Ltd. (Bombay:532667) (532667.BY) Tulsi Tanti Wednesday spoke of the positive prospects for the wind energy market in the US. "Even the global credit crunch and fears of recession aren't denting demand in the wind sector," the CEO told Dow Jones Newswires, citing its new order, announced Wednesday, for 200 MW of wind turbine capacity for the U.S. in 2009.

"This order reflects that business is still coming in and even with the economic slowdown in the U.S., customers are still going ahead with large investment projects there," Tanti said.

At the beginning of March General Electric Co's (GE) Energy unit GE Energy secured its second big contract in recent months worth over $1 billion with Invenergy Wind LLC.

Denmark's Vestas Wind System A/S (VWS.KO) also received an order for 109 units of the V82-1.65 MW wind turbine in the U.S.

According to Danish BTM Consult, a company specialized in consulting wind energy companies, the U.S. is by far the fastest growing market for wind energy. In 2007, the number of installed power rose by 45% to 5,244 MW, which corresponds to a global market share of 26.5%.

BTM Consult also said it is expecting strong growth rates in the future. Installed power in the U.S. is seen doubling every year to 10,500 MW by 2012.

Company Web site: www.siemens.com

- By Alexander Becker, Dow Jones Newswires, +49 (0)69 29 725 508, industry.de@ dowjones.com

(Selina Williams in London contributed to this article.)

    (END) Dow Jones Newswires   04-03-08 1204   Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.