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December 2014

Moventas Completes First-Ever Clipper Up-Tower Service

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Moventas Completes First-Ever Clipper Up-Tower Service

Moventas USA recently carried out the first Clipper Liberty intermediate assembly roller bearing replacements that has ever been made up-tower. Mastering this type of challenging repairs is another example of the innovative, highly skilled SkyServiceTM that Moventas offers in North America and Canada.

Moventas’ Big Spring SkyService team completed yet another first when they replaced all four upper intermediate assembly roller bearings up-tower in a Clipper Liberty turbine in Hamburg, New York for their customer First Wind.

Introduced in 2006, the 2.5 MW Liberty turbine was the largest wind turbine manufactured in the United States when it was first installed. Its field failure began to occur shortly after the first installs and spiked in 2011 before Clipper divested in 2012. Until now, the Clipper gearbox that is of a unique design has only been accessible for service at the factory and at considerable expense to the end user.

Moventas worked in close cooperation with First Wind to understand the failure modes and the limitations in addressing those failures up-tower. In July, the Big Spring SkyService team successfully completed the first repair in New York within four days, extending the life of the gearbox.   

“The challenge was to develop the special tools as well as lifting and holding devices to access the upper housing half and intermediate gear assemblies,” said Steve Casey, head of Moventas North Amerifan facilities. “Designing and fabricating special tooling for challenging repairs is something that our Big Spring team has a lot of experience with.”

Moventas service teams located in Portland, Oregon and Big Spring, Texas work together to serve a diverse customer base, including OEM’s, O&M service providers and end users. With multiple workshops and regionally based field service and sales teams, Moventas offers local service and real time support, added with gearbox expertise that only an OEM can offer. Moventas also operates three tailor-made Mobile Service Units across the USA and one in Canada, making up-tower service fast and cost efficient.

The success of the Clipper project extends Moventas’ ability to address gearbox failures on-site and provides Moventas with further opportunities to grow its SkyService business in North America. Addressing the growing demand of life-extending gearbox service, Moventas has decided to open a new workshop facility and field service homebase in St Paul, Minnesota in February 2015.  
 

MHI Vestas Offshore Wind to Serial Produce 80-Meter Blades for V164-8.0 at UK Facility

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MHI Vestas Offshore Wind to Serial Produce 80-Meter Blades for V164-8.0 at UK Facility

MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will serial manufacture the 80m blade for the V164-8.0 MW, the world’s most powerful offshore wind turbine on the Isle of Wight off the southern coast of the UK. The announcement is the first part of a wider industrialisation strategy in the UK which is expected to result in up to £200m worth of economic impact, including investment and safeguarding or creating up to 800 jobs.

As part of the strategy MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will lease the production hall at Vestas’ blades technology centre on the Isle of Wight from 1 January 2015. Production of blades could commence in the second quarter of 2015 depending upon a pipeline of firm and unconditional orders.

CEO Jens Tommerup said the agreement underlines MHI Vestas Offshore Wind’s commitment to the UK offshore wind market. Figure 1

“We are extremely pleased to publically announce the first stage of our industrial strategy here in the UK, the world’s largest offshore wind market,” Tommerup said. “MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will become the first manufacturer with the capacity to serial produce blades for future offshore wind projects in the UK, and we look forward to sharing further aspects of our industrial strategy in due course.”

“The energy sector is powering Britain’s economic recovery — the UK is already the world leader for investing in offshore wind, and 2,250 green jobs were created this year in our wind industry,” UK Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said. “We are building on that success with our historic reforms to the electricity market.

“The blades that MHI Vestas Offshore Wind will manufacture are being designed, tested and produced in the UK. This is another great example of how our offshore wind industry is attracting global investment — not just in building the turbines themselves but right across the supply chain and right across Britain.”

Built In The UK
The R&D facility on the Isle of Wight was opened in 2011 and was specifically designed to develop large blades for the latest wind turbines. The facility consists of two halls 170m long and 50m wide, one for testing and verification, and one for blade production, which will be leased by MHI Vestas Offshore Wind.

“The Isle of Wight is a world class R&D centre for developing and testing blades. The blades for the V164-8.0 MW prototype were designed, manufactured and tested at the Isle of Wight facility so we have developed the unique skills and processes necessary to manufacture blades which makes it a good location to have the capacity to ramp up to serial manufacturing,” Tommerup said. Figure 2

Vestas will continue to conduct research and development of blade technology on the Isle of Wight, including the testing and verification of the V164-8.0 MW which is being finalised by Vestas on behalf of MHI Vestas Offshore Wind. The lease of the production hall will have no impact on Vestas employees working in R&D on the site.  

— Source:  MHI Vestas Offshore Wind

Siemens Awarded Turbine Supply Contracts Totaling 315 MW for Two Wind Projects in Canada

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Siemens Awarded Turbine Supply Contracts Totaling 315 MW for Two Wind Projects in Canada

Siemens’ Wind Power and Renewables Division has received two new orders for onshore wind projects in Ontario, Canada. The contracts include the supply, installation and commissioning of a total of 137 wind turbines rated at 2.3 MW. Of those, Siemens will supply 91 units of its SWT-2.3-101 turbines to Samsung Renewable Energy Inc.’s and Pattern Energy Group LP’s (Pattern Development) 180-MW Armow Wind project. The G2 geared turbines are equipped with 101-meter rotors. Suncor Energy Inc. ordered 46 D3 direct drive wind turbines for the 100-MW Cedar Point II wind project. The SWT-2.3-113 turbines have a rotor diameter of 113 meters. Figure 1

Together, both wind power projects will generate clean power for more than 100,000 Ontario homes. All 411 blades will be manufactured at the Siemens blade facility in Tillsonburg, Ontario. The Armow Wind project will feature 273 blades with a length of 49 meters while Cedar Point II will use 138 blades of 55 meters each. The towers for the projects will be manufactured in a local facility using steel made in Canada. Construction of the Armow project is now underway with commercial operation expected by the end of 2015. The Armow Wind project will be located close to the shore of Lake Huron, more than 220 kilometers northwest of the city of Toronto in the province of Ontario, Canada. The wind turbines for Cedar Point II will be installed in Sarnia, Ontario, approximately 100 kilometers north of the U.S. city of Detroit. The project is scheduled to start commercial operation in late 2015.

— Source: Siemens

Siemens Goes on Tour With Linkin Park to Raise Sustainable Energy Supply Awareness

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Siemens Goes on Tour With Linkin Park to Raise Sustainable Energy Supply Awareness

Wherever they play, the American rock band Linkin Park not only excites the crowd with the energy of their powerful songs. In a joint initiative with Siemens, the superstars will now also be electrifying its audiences with its performances for sustainable power supply. The six band members will be using their tour through Germany, Austria and Switzerland in a joint campaign with Siemens to make a clear statement that is backed up by Power the World. In Europe in general, and especially in Germany, wind power is making a decisive contribution to sustainable energy supply.

Around 1.3 billion people, or 20 percent of the world’s population, do not have access to electricity. The United Nations has therefore launched an initiative and declared the years from 2014 to 2024 to be the “Decade of Sustainable Energy for All”. One of the missions of Power the World is to support the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, in finding sustainable energy solutions throughout the world.

During Linkin Park’s tour through eleven cities from November 3 – 20, 2014, a so-called “power booth” — a specially equipped multimedia container set up by Siemens, Linkin Park and Warner Music — turned visitor’s attention to Power the World. Inside the container, a multimedia show raised awareness about the fact that access to electricity is unfortunately not a matter of course in other regions of the world to motivate visitors to learn more and get involved. The fans also were able to take their picture inside the container. The selfies that were taken in the container before the concert were shown as part of a pre-show presentation, and a drawing was held for all participants for a special “Linkin Park edition e-Smart.” Power the World was also highlighted in a short teaser film prior to the stage show.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
• Siemens Wind Power and Renewables Division: www.siemens.com/wind.
• Siemens sustainability and social responsibility: www.siemens.com/about/sustainability/en/index.php
• Power the World, please see www.powertheworld.org/
• UN initiative for sustainable energy for all: www.un.org./en/sustainablefuture/energy.asp

DOE Promotes Wind Workforce with Interactive Wind Career Map

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DOE Promotes Wind Workforce with Interactive Wind Career Map

A robust domestic wind industry requires a well-qualified and trained workforce to design, maintain, and install wind energy projects across the country. As wind becomes a larger part of our nation’s clean energy mix, the need for skilled individuals to support this growing industry will increase. While the wind industry already employs over 50,000 people across the United States, the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory found in a recent study that at least 70% of industry members surveyed report some difficulty finding qualified applicants for a variety of wind-related positions including wind technicians, managers in manufacturing and construction, scientists, regulators, product designers, educators, and trade workers. Figure 1

In an effort to support the wind industry’s recruitment of skilled workers, the Energy Department has developed a – “Wind Career Map,” a web-based tool that highlights the broad range of careers and required skill sets across the wind power industry. The occupations featured in the Wind Career Map range from technicians who install and maintain wind turbines to educators who will train the next generation of wind engineers and business leaders. Information such as wages, experience expectations, and educational requirements are available for each mapped occupation, and one of the most exciting features of the Career Map is an associated career pathway that can successfully lead to each position.

Utilizing the Career Map’s built-in matching feature, interested individuals can locate positions based upon relative skill sets and levels of knowledge. For instance, if you were to match your “moderate experience” with a career in “Installation and Operations,” you may find that you are qualified to be an assembler and fabricator. The Career Map informs you that people in this position “assemble both finished products and the parts that go into them,” and that a high school diploma is the preferred level of education to qualify for this role. If you are intrigued by the job description and think that it may be a good fit, the Wind Career Map points you to more detailed information. For example, the Career Map tells you that assemblers and fabricators must have color vision and be able to read detailed schematics or blueprints that show how to assemble a machine and use various electronic, robotic, computer, or hand tools to make adjustments to align and fit components together properly. Figure 2

Developed by a working group of experts including industry representatives, educators, government agencies, and wind energy activists, the Wind Career Map will help develop the next generation of employees needed to support America’s growing land-based, distributed, and emerging offshore wind industries.

Interested in other renewable energy sources? The Energy Department also developed a Solar Career Map. To see if a renewable energy career may be right for you, visit the or Energy Department’s Clean Energy Jobs and Career Planning website, or visit the Wind Program website to learn more about wind energy trends, technology, manufacturing, educational tools, and ongoing research and development.  

— Source: U.S. Department of Energy

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