June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering company, said it expects to win orders of about 15 billion euros ($21 billion) from economic stimulus programs as it aims to overcome the drop in private investment.

Siemens said it will gain those contracts in the next three fiscal years, with about 40 percent, or 6 billion euros, involving environmentally friendly technology and infrastructure, the company said in a statement today.

Governments worldwide have announced about $2 trillion in economic stimulus programs, and Munich-based Siemens said about 150 billion euros involves markets in which it competes, such as power lines and high-speed trains. That may aid Siemens, which has faced postponement of projects clients ordered from its industrial division and its power-transmission unit.

“These are programs that will help to stabilize the business,” Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher said on a conference call. “We can’t yet forecast to what extent it will offset the drop in private-sector investment.”

Siemens aims to beat the overall market in sales in its current fiscal year, which ends in September, Chief Financial Officer Joe Kaeser said, when asked if he maintains a January forecast that sales would remain “about stable.” The company’s revenue rose 7 percent last year to 77.3 billion euros.

Falling Orders

Siemens’s order intake in the first quarter of this fiscal year declined 9 percent, followed by an 11 percent decline in January through March. Its order backlog stood at 87 billion euros at the end of the fiscal first half.

“It’s a positive for Siemens to get these orders as these are safe orders that turn into safe revenues, with a low risk of getting canceled,” Jana Arndt, a credit analyst at UniCredit in Munich, said in an interview.

Siemens shares fell 0.9 percent to 50.20 euros as of 12:10 p.m. in Frankfurt. They have dropped 4.7 percent this year.

Loescher said Siemens is already benefiting from programs such as high-speed trains in China and refitting government buildings in the U.S. to save energy. The U.S. offers the largest potential for Siemens, with 85 billion euros in stimulus spending in relevant markets, followed by China with 25 billion euros and Germany with 5 billion euros, Siemens said.

“Our green portfolio will be a key growth driver,” Loescher said later in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We have the broadest and deepest green portfolio in the world.”

Wind Energy

Renewable energy was the only one of Siemens’s five energy businesses where order intake rose in the fiscal first half. It also had the highest profit margin, at 13.6 percent, and the fastest sales growth. Wind power, with about 5,500 employees, accounted for approximately 90 percent of the renewable energy division’s 2.1 billion euros in sales.

Siemens is the world’s leading provider of offshore wind turbines, and sixth in the overall wind-turbine market. Loescher said he expects the offshore wind market to grow by 20 percent per year.

Siemens on June 16 said it is holding talks with Munich Re and utilities including RWE AG and E.ON AG as well as Deutsche Bank AG on developing solar plants in the Sahara desert to supply 15 percent of Europe’s power needs by mid-century. Siemens will discuss a feasibility study with its partners on July 13, Loescher said today. Siemens expects the solar energy market to grow by 24 percent per year, he added.

Siemens in fiscal 2008 generated approximately 19 billion euros, or almost one-quarter of total revenue, from products in its so-called environmental portfolio, including wind turbines, steam turbines for solar thermal power plants, water purification and technologies such as air pollution control. Loescher repeated his goal for that revenue to grow to 25 billion euros in fiscal 2011.

To contact the reporters on this story: Richard Weiss in Frankfurt at rweiss5@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 22, 2009 06:13 EDT