Siemens wins 665 mln-pound UK power contract

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German industrial conglomerate Siemens (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) has won a 665 million-pound ($1.31 billion) order to build and service a combined-cycle power plant in Wales, for which it was the preferred bidder.

Siemens has already started construction of the 850 megawatt plant which it is building near Newport for Severn Power Ltd, a subsidiary of Welsh Power, it said in a statement on Monday. The plant is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

The agreement includes a deal to operate and maintain the plant for 16 years.

Siemens said the order for the plant, the ninth it will build in Britain, would strengthen its position in the important UK market, where many old plants are being decommissioned.

The Severn Power plant is being built on the site of a decommissioned coal-fired power plant.

Energy is one of Siemens's three core businesses, along with healthcare and heavy industry.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Quentin Bryar)