Many participants in wind power technology
Wind power suppliers: There is a large community of manufacturers and developers whose scope of supply ranges from complete wind turbine systems to hardware and software components and to numerous auxiliary subsystems that make up a wind farm. See list, photos, links.
Frank J. Bartos, PE
Electric power generation from wind energy is a relatively young but growing industry. In some parts of the world it has shown remarkable growth. Looking ahead, realities of market economics and political issues may not support the same continued growth—at least in some parts of the world.
This article updates the original one posted on CE’s Web site in August 2009. (Link to that and many related wind turbine articles below, including videos.)
The focus here is on direct-drive (DD) wind turbine technology that eliminates the gearbox from the drivetrain (see August 2011 CE article on DD wind turbines linked below).
The following is a selected listing of supplier companies to the multimegawatt (MW) wind turbine market. Only DD turbine offerings are listed, but all companies in the first table also make geared turbines, with the exception of Enercon GmbH. The list is not comprehensive—and does not include turbine erection or maintenance services.
Suppliers of Large Wind Turbines (>1 MW)
Company
| HQ Location
| Direct-Drive (Gearless) Turbine Offering
|
Acciona Energy
| Spain
|
|
Alstom www.alstom.com/power/renewables
| Switzerland
| New generation offshore 6 MW Prototype 2011 Serial production 2014
|
Clipper Windpower
| USA
|
|
DeWind *
| Germany
|
|
Enercon
| Germany
| Gearless turbines only 5 models in 2-3 MW range E-126 rated 7.5 MW
|
Gamesa www.gamesacorp.com/en
| Spain
|
|
GE Energy www.ge.com/energy
| USA
| GE (4.1-113) 4.1 MW offshore optimized
|
Mitsubishi Power Systems
| Japan
|
|
Nordex
| Germany
| N150/6000 6 MW Prototype 2012-13 Serial production 2014
|
Northern Power Systems
| USA
| NPS 2.3 2.3 MW
|
Siemens Energy www.siemens.com/wind
| Germany
| SWT-2.3-113 2.3 MW SWT-3.0-101 3 MW SWT-6.0-120 6 MW Prototype 2011-13 Serial production 2014 for 6 MW
|
STX Windpower
| Netherlands
| STX 82 1.5 MW, 2 MW STX 93 2 MW
|
Suzlon Energy www.suzlon.com
| India
|
|
Vestas www.vestas.com
| Denmark
|
|
Windtec **
| USA
|
|
* part of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Ltd.
** subsidiary of American Superconductor Corp.
Suppliers of Subsystems/Components for Large Wind Turbines
Company
| Technology/Products Offered
| URL
|
ABB
| Variable-frequency drives (VFDs); converters; induction and PM synchronous generators; transformers; switchgear
|
|
American Superconductor
| Power converters; control systems
|
|
Bachmann electronic GmbH
| Controllers; condition monitoring systems; grid measurement and monitoring modules
|
|
Beckhoff Automation
| PC-based controls; I/O terminals; wind farm networking
|
|
Bosch Rexroth
| Pitch and yaw drives (electromechanical and hydraulic); yaw and drivetrain brake systems
|
|
Cooper Power Systems
| Software for power trans-mission/distribution analysis; transformers; distribution switchgear
|
|
Dataforth Corp.
| Signal conditioners for a variety of sensors; fiber-optic communication modules
|
|
Eaton Corp.
| Hydraulic pitch control systems; hydraulic rotor brake control; remote condition monitoring
|
|
Moog Inc.
| Electric and hydraulic blade-pitch control; brush slip rings; fiber-optic remote rotor monitoring
|
|
National Instruments
| Hardware/software for pitch/yaw control; turbine condition monitoring (blade, generator)
|
|
Parker Hannifin Corp.
| Rotor brake components; pitch systems; power control/inverter modules
|
|
The Switch Controls & Converters
| PM synchronous and other generators; full-power converters
|
|
Frank J. Bartos, PE, is a Control Engineering contributing content specialist. Reach him at braunbart(at)sbcglobal.net
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