Moventas recently announced improvements to its Gearbox Pooling Program. With the improvements which include faster delivery, upgraded boxes, leading warranties, and new gearbox availability the program far exceeds competitive offers in the market. In the program, customers receive a refurbished or brand-new replacement gearbox in exchange for their damaged gearbox, which is returned to the pool for refurbishment. Customers only pay the cost of the repair. Downtime and crane usage are minimized.
As the customer notifies Moventas of the type of gearbox, location, and scope of failure, a gearbox or a mainshaft from a secured FIFO inventory is selected and serial numbers are reported to the customer. Next Moventas contacts the site to arrange shipping and installation, and a refurbished or new unit is delivered to the site and installed in the turbine with Moventas coordinating all crane and site work if desired.
“Repairs are much less expensive than new gearbox costs, and, with this program, there is complete visibility of refurbished and new unit inventory,” said Steve Casey, head of Moventas operations. “The traditional repair cycle is virtually eliminated. It’s a win-win for the customer. Availability goes way up and downtime is reduced.”
Moventas stores gearboxes fully accessorized, thus minimizing turbine downtime and exchange costs, and, in many cases, replacement gearboxes are on-site within days. As the damaged gearbox is removed, the replacement gearbox is installed using the same crane and service team, reducing costs for customers.
“Why settle for participating in a pool that only services half of your fleet,” said Mike Grunow, vice president of sales and marketing at Moventas Americas.
“We’ve spoken to the majority of wind farm owners and the message is clear. Wind farm owners want to participate in a gearbox repair-pooling program that meets the needs of their entire fleet and offers new gearbox options to make up for catastrophic failures. Moventas is the only company that can do that,” cMainshafts can be repaired and pooled with the gearboxes under the same terms and extended warranty options. Should a broken gearbox be deemed unusable, Moventas will credit customers for the usable parts and sell them a brand-new unit that contains industry-leading case-carburized ring gears, that enable maximum life and ensure the feasibility of less expensive uptower repairs.
As a global multi-brand service partner, Moventas also accepts and has successfully reverse-engineered, repaired, overhauled, upgraded, and supplied many popular gearboxes from other manufacturers.
— Source: Moventas
