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And the major bearings, primarily for main shaft and to a lesser extent gearbox and yaw bearings, are sourced largely to two companies of which windpower is about two percent of their business.  No help there.  This is the primary bottleneck in today's industry.

Do you mean:

http://www.earthscan.co.uk/news/printablearticle.asp?UAN=431&noimages=1


About six months after acquiring Bonus, Siemens strengthened its hold on the wind technology hardware market when it bought Flender Holding GmbH.8 This is the parent company of the leading wind turbine drive systems supplier Winergy. The latter controls around 40% of the world market for wind turbine gearboxes, with among its main clients Siemens Wind Power, REpower, Suzlon, Nordex, Ecotècnia,Turbowinds and, most likely, GE and Vestas. However, it was the Siemens Automation

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by Laurent GUERBY on Mon Aug 27th, 2007 at 06:59:15 AM EST
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It's true that gearbox manufacture is focused on two main suppliers, Winergy and Hansen (30% market share), which is owned by Suzlon.  For these companies to remain profitable, they will still need to supply the owners' competition, at least into the mid-term.  Supply contracts remain in place to the competition.  But over the past two years other gearbox manufacturers are both increasing market share and ramping up production.

Siemens stated upon the purchase that they were interested in the parent, and that they would not interfere with the core business.  I wouldn't want my gearbox load data in the hands of the competition, however.  But even they source elsewhere as well.

Many turbine manufacturers source gearboxes from different competing suppliers.  Siemens itself sources from Hansen.  Suzlon didn't source from the company it bought, Hansen, rather Winergy and the small German company Jahnel Kestermann, though that will begin to change soon.  Nordex has three suppliers including a subsidiary of Bosche Rexroth for their new differential gearbox.  Vestas sources from four companies, including Finnish Moventus.  Gamesa sources from five companies, as does GE, though GE is slowly increasing production at another GE subsidiary.  REpower sources from three companies, and a fourth, RENK (new to the industry) provides only for the giant 5M.

New production capacity is beginning to come online in China and India (where else?), and almost everyone in Europe is adding capacity.

But nearly all large gears (main shaft) come from FAG or SKF.  And there's the rub.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Mon Aug 27th, 2007 at 08:06:21 AM EST
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