Siemens Wind Power

Siemens Wind Power
Subsidiary
Industry Wind power industry
Predecessor Danregn Vindkraft A/S
Bonus Energy A/S
Founded 1980 in Brande, Denmark
Founder Peter Stubkjær Sørensen
Egon Kristensen
Headquarters Hamburg, Germany /, Brande, Denmark
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Markus Tacke (CEO),[1]
Products Wind turbines
Number of employees
 7,800 (September 2011)
Parent Siemens
Website Siemens Wind Power

Siemens Wind Power, (formerly Danregn Vindkraft A/S and Bonus Energy A/S) is a wind turbine manufacturer established in 1980 as Danregn Vindkraft. Bonus Energy was acquired by Siemens of Germany in 2004. The organisation became a separate division of Siemens in 2011, with headquarters established in Hamburg, Germany.

In 2015 it had a combined market share of 63% of European offshore wind turbines[2] (nearly 75% in 2009 by capacity and number).[3] In 2011, Siemens Wind Power had 6.3% share of the world wind turbine market,[4] and was the second largest in 2014.[5]

History

Bonus era

History of the company started in 1980, when Danish irrigation system manufacturer Danregn, diversified into the windturbine business; its first wind turbines were machines with rotor diameters of around 10 m (33 ft) with generator powers of 20 to 30 kW (27 to 40 hp).[6][7][8] In 1981 the wind activities were separated into newly established company Danregn Vindkraft A/S, established by Peter Stubkjær Sørensen and Egon Kristensen in Brande, Denmark, with a capital of 300,000 kroner; the company's product was a 55 kW (74 hp), 15 m (49 ft) blade diameter turbine.[6][8][9][10]

Between 1982 and 1987 the company exported wind turbines to the USA in collaboration with Difko AS, in response to a wind farm building boom promoted by government subsidies;[6][8] the company changed its name from Danregn Vindkraft to Bonus Energy in 1983, an easier name for the English speaking North American market.[7][11]

In 1991, eleven 450 kW Bonus turbines were installed in the Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm (Denmark), the first offshore wind farm in the world.[12][13]

The company sourced its first blades from Viborg based company Økær Vind Energi.[14] Later it sourced blades from LM Wind Power. In the late 1990s Bonus began to develop its own blades, beginning production in the early 2000s in Aalborg.[15][note 1]

Siemens era

Bonus AS was sold to Siemens in 2004 for an undisclosed amount,[16] but before the sale the value was assessed to be somewhere between DKK 1.5 (USD 240 million) and 2.5 billion (USD 400 million).[17] The sales and project management headquarters moved to Hamburg, Germany in May 2009.[18]

Siemens 2.3 MW Wind Power turbines at Wildorado Wind Ranch (2010)

Between 2004 and 2011, Siemens grew wind power from 0.5% to 5% of the combined Siemens turnover, with employees growing from 800 to 7,800, of which 5,200 are in Denmark,[19] and 1,000 in Germany.[20] The growth included the expansion of production, warehousing and offices at its Brande site in 2005/6;[21] acquisition in 2006 of a former LM Glasfiber wind turbine blade factory in Engesvang, Denmark;[22] construction of a blade factory in Fort Madison, Iowa, USA in 2007;[21] a hub factory in Ølgod began production in 2008;[23] and a nacelle manufacturing plant was established in Hutchinson, Kansas, USA between 2009 and 2010, opening in December 2010.[24]

A factory established in Linggang ( Siemens Wind Power Blades (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.) near the Yangshan Deep Water Port began production in 2010.[25] Additionally in December 2010 Siemens announced it would install a blade factory at an existing unused facility in Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada.[26] In early 2011 Siemens and ABP announced the development of a £210 million turbine assembly plant, and dock development at Alexandra Dock, in Kingston upon Hull, UK.[27][28]

In 2011 Siemens' wind power operations were split into a separate division, 'Wind Power'; with its other renewable energy activities place into a 'Solar & Hydro' division, the divisions headquarters were established in Hamburg on 1 October 2011, the European offshore wind headquarters remained in Brande, Denmark.[20][29][30]

In July 2012, the company agreed to supply Dong Energy with 300 direct drive, 75m blade, 6 MW SWT-6.0-154 turbines for the English offshore market from 2014. Two turbines are to be installed for testing at the Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm.[31] The value of the contract was estimated at over £2 billion.[32][33]

In September 2012 Siemens Wind announced the lay off of 615 of a workforce of around 1650 workers in the United States, citing reduced demand for wind turbines due to uncertainty concerning future tax break incentives in the USA for wind power.[34]

In March 2014 Siemens and Associated British Ports (ABP) finalised the 2011 MOU to build a turbine factory in Hull, UK ('Green Port Hull'), and announced an additional facility near Paull, East Riding of Yorkshire, east of Hull which would manufacture rotor blades for turbines.[35][36] In 2014 the planned factory at Paull was abandoned, with all production to be concentrated at the Alexandra dock site.[37] Revised plans for the site submitted April 2015 included only a blade manufacturing factory at the site with no nacelle production.[38] Henrik Stiesdal, the company's Chief Technology Officer since the early Bonus days, left the company in 2014.

In early 2015 Siemens announced it had reached agreements to build 2GW of wind turbines in Egypt, and to construct a blade factory in that country, as part of a larger power generation agreement.[39][40] The €8 billion, 16.4GW energy development deal was signed in June 2015, including a ~1000 worker blade factory in Ain Soukhna and 12 wind farms (600 turbine, 2GW) in the Gulf of Suez and west Nile areas of Egypt.[41]

In August 2015 Siemens announced it was to construct a new nacelle manufacturing plant at Cuxhaven, Germany, an investment of £200 million. The plant was expected to become operational mid 2017, and employ 1000 people.[42][43] A €100 million blade plant to be built in the Tanger Automotive City (near Tanger-Med port) in Morocco was announced in early 2016.[44][45]

Acquisitions and mergers

Along with Bonus in 2004, Siemens acquired AN Windenergie GmbH in Bremen (Germany) in 2005; the sales and service partner company of Bonus Energy.[21][46]

In 2010 Siemens Wind Power acquired 49% of A2SEA (an offshore wind farm installation company) from DONG Energy for a price of DKK 860m.[47][48]

In 2016, Siemens discussed a merger with Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica.[49][50][51] An analyst considers Gamesa's strength in China and India as a strategic asset for Siemens.[52] However, Areva Wind has a joint venture with Gamesa called Adwen, which is a source of contention during negotiations, as Siemens was reluctant to fund factories and development of an 8 MW turbine in France.[2]

Joint ventures

In December 2011 Siemens signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Shanghai Electric for wind power supply in China.[53]

Operations

Siemens Wind has R&D, and production facilities in Brande, Denmark. Blade production is located in Aalborg and Engesvang (Denmark), Linggang (China), Fort Madison, Iowa (USA) and Tillsonburg, Ontario (Canada); with factories under construction or planned (2016) for Kingston upon Hull (UK), Tanger Automotive City (Morocco) and Ain Soukhna (Egypt).

Other established production sites included nacelle manufacture at Hutchinson, Kansas (USA) and hub production at Ølgod (Denmark). As of 2016 a new nacelle plant is under development at Cuxhaven (Germany).

Products

Current products

As of 2012 Siemens wind power products include 2.3MW turbines with rotor diameters of 82 to 113 m (269 to 371 ft), product codes: SWT-2.3-82; SWT-2.3-93; SWT-2.3-101; SWT-2.3-108; SWT-2.3-113, as well as 3.0MW turbines with 101m rotors, and 3.6MW turbines with 107 or 120 m (351 or 394 ft) rotors. Product codes SWT-3.0-101; SWT-3.6-107; SWT-3.6-120.[54]

In 2013 Siemens announced a development of its 3.6MW design, the SWT 4.0-130 which used a rotor of diamter 130m with 4MW rated power. At the same time the company introduced new product platform codes for its products, with 'G' indicating geared drive, and 'D' indicating direct drive, suffixed by a number indicating an approximate power class. The four initial product ranges were Siemens G2, G4, D3 and D6.[55]

Prototype 6MW machines were installed at the Gunfleet Sands 2 wind farm in 2013;[56] with the first full scale commercial installation at the 210MW Westernmost Rough wind farm in 2014.[57] In 2015 Siemens upgraded the 6MW design to a rated 7MW power with a larger permanent magnet generator.[58] The first order for the 7MW design was awarded in October 2015 for 47 turbines in the Walney 3 offshore.[59]

Fiberglass-reinforced epoxy blades of Siemens SWT-2.3-101 wind turbines.
Fibreglass reinforced epoxy blades of Siemens SWT-2.3-101 wind turbines. The blade size of 49 meters[60] is in comparison to a substation behind them at Wolfe Island Wind Farm.

Product history

In mid-2008 the company began testing of development prototypes of direct drive wind turbines; units based on the geared SWT-3.6-107 were installed in 2008 with a permanent magnet generator directly replacing the gearbox and alternator.[61][note 2] Successful tests led to development of a new production design by 2009.[63] A prototype of the new direct drive design, an IEC 61400 wind class IA, 3MW machine (SWT 3.0-101 DD) was installed near Brande, Denmark in 2009.[63][64] The 3MW design was launched as a product in April 2010 and significantly reduced complexity (half the components)[65] and lower nacelle weight than earlier 2.3MW designs.[66] A 2.3MW version for lower wind speeds (SWT-2.3-113) was launched in 2011.[67]

In May 2011 testing began of a prototype 6MW direct drive design with a 120 to 154 m (394 to 505 ft) rotor, the design was launched as a product in November 2011.[68] Prototype 6MW machines were installed for testing at Høvsøre, Denmark in 2011,[69] and the upgraded 7MW version is tested at Østerild Wind Turbine Test Field from 2012.[70]

Research and development

Hywind floating wind turbine.

By 2010 Siemens Wind Power had filed 242 wind turbine patents on the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office database (UK-IPO), while Vestas has filed 787 and General Electric has 666.[71]

In 2008, a R&D center was opened in Boulder, Colorado, United States, stating that it could recruit higher quality aerodynamicists in the location than in Denmark.[72][73]

In 2009 Siemens supplied a special SWT-2.3-82 turbine installed on "Hywind", the first large capacity floating wind turbine in the world, developed by Statoil.[74]

In around 2010 Siemens has a goal of reducing the cost per kilowatt-hour to €0.05 for onshore windpower and to €0.10 for offshore wind by 2020,[note 3] many of the cost saving mechanisms were based on practice originating in the auto industry. Potential cost reductions included: automation/robotisation of blade manufacture and tailor woven glass fibre mats to reduce to simplify the blade manufacturing process; use of standardised components across product ranges to reduce overall component costs; elimination of geared generator drives to reduce maintenance cost; and modularisation of nacelle design, splitting generator and power conversion into separate modules, with the aim of additional flexibility in manufacture, and reduced transportation costs due reduced weight of the modules. The company also offered shorter length bolted tower sections allowing container transportation, and simplified mass production.[65]

In a Life-cycle assessment, SWP calculates that the energy for manufacturing a 6MW direct drive wind turbine is made back in under 10 months depending on circumstances,[76][77] roughly the same as independent research suggests.[78][79]

SWP develops artificial neural networks for machine learning to predict and diagnose potential problems in 9,000 wind turbines with 400 sensors each, sending data several times a second.[80]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The blade factory in Aalborg was established in part due to local experience in construction with fibreglass, as used at the Danyard Aalborg shipyard in construction of the Flyvefisken class patrol vessel.[15]
  2. ↑ The quantity of permanent magnet material used in the generator has been estimated at around 2 tonnes.[62]
  3. ↑ Example, in 2011 Duddon Sands wind farm (108 3.6MW turbines) cost €700million to construct, or €6.5 million per turbine, or €1,800 capital cost excluding maintenance per kW generating capacity.[75]

References

  1. ↑ "Maskiningeniør ny CEO i Siemens’ vindkraftdivision", Ingeniøren (in Danish), 1 July 2013
  2. 1 2 Reuters Editorial (22 March 2016). "Siemens ready to buy Areva wind venture in Gamesa deal: paper". Reuters. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  3. ↑ Wilkes, Justin (January 2010), The European offshore wind industry - key trends and statistics 2009 (PDF), EWEA
  4. ↑ Backwell, Ben (7 March 2012), "Gamesa back in wind top-five as GE drops out - analysts", Recharge (NHST Media Group), archived from the original on 9 April 2012
  5. ↑ Badstue Pedersen, Maria Berg. "BTM: Vestas stadig nummer et" Energy Supply, 30 March 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "BONUS Energy Profile - History", www.bonus.dk (Bonus Energy AS), archived from the original on 31 March 2001
  7. 1 2 "Discover the unique power of the wind" (PDF). Vestas. pp. 11–12. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
  8. 1 2 3 Glen, Gregory (26 May 2009). Siemens Wind Power's supplier base: expectations and challenges (PDF). Wind Power & Industry. www.nätverketförvindbruk.se (Kalmar, Sweden: Siemens).
  9. ↑ Grove-Nielsen, Erik. "NIVE and FolkeCenter". windsofchange.dk. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  10. ↑ Ostrynski, Nathalie (29 March 2009). "Milliardæren fra Brande" [Millionaire from Brande]. Berlingske Tidende (in Danish).
  11. ↑ Beattie, David (20 December 2010). "Key Players in the Wind Energy". REVE.
  12. ↑ Wilkes, Justin, Operational offshore wind farms in Europe, end 2009 (PDF), EWEA
  13. ↑ Christensen, Allan S.; Madsen, Morten (29 August 2005), Supply Chain study on the Danish offshore wind industry (PDF), Offshore Center Danmark, Vindeby, p.34
  14. ↑ Grove-Nielsen, Erik. "Økær Vind Energi 1977 - 1981". windsofchange.dk. Retrieved 27 September 2012. Økær Vind Energi delivered the first 5 m blades for Bonus in December 1980 - for their prototype. At that time the company name was Danregn Vindkraft A/S
  15. 1 2 Sources:
  16. ↑ Hoel, Amanda (1 November 2004), "A wind Bonus for Siemens", www.powerengineeringint.com
  17. ↑ Wind turbine concern Bonus Energy is up for sale Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Denmark), 25 June 2004. Retrieved: 18 October 2010. Archived 17 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ↑ "Siemens opens new wind power HQ in Germany", www.greenbang.com, 12 May 2009
  19. ↑ Wessel, Lene (26 September 2011), "Siemens Wind Power flytter hjemmefra", ing.dk (in Danish)
  20. 1 2 "Siemens Opens Wind Headquarters in Hamburg", www.breakbulk.com, 4 October 2011
  21. 1 2 3 Nelson, Robert (2008), Siemens Wind Power: Technical Developments (PDF), Siemens via Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association (TREIA)
  22. ↑ Siemens expands its manufacturing capacity for wind turbines in Denmark, Siemens, 2 February 2006
  23. ↑ Eilers, Henrik (11 February 2008), "Ny Siemens-fabrik i Ølgod er køreklar", www.metal-supply.dk
  24. ↑ Sources:
  25. ↑ Sources:
  26. ↑ Siemens selects Tillsonburg, Ontario, as new home for Canadian wind turbine blade manufacturing facility, Siemens, 2 December 2010
  27. ↑ Bounds, Andrew (20 January 2011). "Hull for wind turbine plant". Financial Times.
  28. ↑ "Siemens selects ABP as preferred bidder for UK wind turbine factory". www.siemens.co.uk (Press release). Siemens. 20 January 2011.
  29. ↑ Siemens to strengthen its renewables business, Siemens, 4 August 2011
  30. ↑ Hamburg to become headquarters of Siemens' global wind power business (PDF), Siemens, 26 September 2011
  31. ↑ Siemens to supply 300 offshore wind turbines to DONG Energy, Siemens, 19 July 2012
  32. ↑ Murray, James (19 July 2012), "Siemens and Dong energy sign €2.5bn offshore wind power deal", The Guardian
  33. ↑ Gosden, Emily (19 July 2012), "Dong and Siemens sign £2.3bn deal for giant UK wind turbines", The Telegraph
  34. ↑ Pitt, David (18 September 2012), "Siemens to lay off 615 in Iowa, Kansas, Florida", www.businessweek.com (Bloomberg LP)
  35. ↑ "Siemens confirm Green Port Hull wind turbine factory to be built", BBC News, 25 March 2014
  36. ↑ Siemens to construct factory for offshore wind power in Great Britain (PDF) (Press Release), Siemens, 25 March 2014
  37. ↑ "Siemens combines Humber sites". renews.biz. 14 November 2014.
  38. ↑ Pringle Brandon Perkins + Will; Blue Sky Planning, "Siemens Green Port Hull Alexandra Dock, 30 March 2015, Planning and Design and Access Statement" (PDF), (15/00393/RES) Demolition of buildings and erection of new buildings (including part of a single building of 22.476m high; 73' 9") for the manufacture of wind turbine blades and the assembly, maintenance, storage and distribution (Use Class B1, B2 and B8) of wind turbine components [..] (planning application) (Hull City Council), §01.1-01.2, pp.6-7
  39. ↑ Egypt and Siemens to massively increase power generation capacity (PDF), Siemens, 14 March 2015
  40. ↑ Mahadevan, Neetha (14 March 2015), "Siemens Signs $4.2 Billion Power Deals in Egypt", www.wsj.com
  41. ↑ Siemens awarded record energy orders that will boost Egypt’s power generation by 50% (PDF) (Press release), Siemens, 3 June 2015
  42. ↑ Siemens to build wind power plant in Cuxhaven, Germany (Press release), Siemens, 5 August 2015
  43. ↑ "Siemens to build Cuxhaven plant", renews.biz, 5 August 2015
  44. ↑ "Siemens strikes blade plant deal", renews.biz, 10 March 2016
  45. ↑ Siemens to build rotor blade factory for wind turbines in Morocco (PDF) (press release), Siemens, 10 March 2016
  46. ↑ "Siemens uebernimmt AN Windenergie GmbH", windmesse.de (in German), 3 November 2005
  47. ↑ Stromsta, Karl-Erik (29 June 2010). "Siemens buys 49% A2SEA stake to deepen offshore ties". Recharge (NHST Media Group). Archived from the original on 4 August 2012.
  48. ↑ "Antitrust authority approves Siemens as equity partner in A2SEA", www.offshorewind.biz, 13 October 2010
  49. ↑ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/73443f0e-c6b1-11e5-b3b1-7b2481276e45.html
  50. ↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/us-gamesa-siemens-windpower-idUSKCN0VJ1EG
  51. ↑ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-09/siemens-said-to-near-deal-to-combine-wind-business-with-gamesa
  52. ↑ http://energiwatch.dk/Energinyt/Renewables/article8404636.ece
  53. ↑ Siemens and Shanghai Electric agree on strategic wind power alliance for China, Siemens, 9 December 2011
  54. ↑ Wind Turbines, Siemens, Our Portfolio, retrieved 24 August 2012
  55. ↑ Siemens launches new 4-megawatt offshore wind turbine (PDF) (press release), Siemens, 5 February 2013
  56. ↑ Gunfleet Sands test site for 6MW wind farm turbines, BBC News, 12 September 2013
  57. ↑ "First Siemens 6MW rises at Rough", renews.biz, 15 August 2014
  58. ↑ Snieckus, Darius (11 March 2015), "Siemens boosts offshore wind turbine to 7MW", www.rechargenews.com
  59. ↑ "Green light for Walney 3 build", renews.biz, 28 October 2015
  60. ↑ "Aerodynamic and Performance Measurements on a SWT-2.3- 101 Wind Turbine" (PDF). WINDPOWER 2011. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 22–25 May 2011. p. 1.
  61. ↑ de Vries, Eize (14 October 2008), "Siemens Tests its Direct Drive: Will Direct Drive Bring Down the Cost of Energy from Large-Scale Turbines?", www.renewableenergyworld.com
  62. ↑ Krøyer, Kent (18 October 2010), Gearløs vindmølle gør Siemens sårbar over for høj pris på sjældent metal (in Danish), Ingeniøren
  63. 1 2 Next generation onshore wind turbines: Siemens installs prototype of three-megawatt direct drive wind turbine, Siemens, 3 December 2009
  64. ↑ de Vries, Eize (3 December 2008), "An Exclusive Look at the New Siemens 3-MW Direct-Drive Turbine", www.renewableenergyworld.com
  65. 1 2 Buck, Christian (Spring 2013), "A new spin on production", Pictures of the future (Siemens magazine) (Siemens)
  66. ↑ New Siemens Direct Drive wind turbine ready for sale, Siemens, 20 April 2010
  67. ↑ Siemens launches new gearless wind turbine for low to moderate wind speeds, Siemens, 14 March 2011
  68. ↑ Siemens launches new 6-MW direct drive offshore wind turbine, Siemens, 29 November 2011
  69. ↑ Siemens starts operating its first 6 megawatt wind turbine (PDF) (press release), Siemens, 9 June 2011
  70. ↑ "SWT-7.0-154 - Østerild (onshore) - 4C Offshore".
  71. ↑ Rosen, Ellen (11 October 2010), Stolichnaya, Bank Of America: Intellectual Property, Bloomberg, Overall, the company [Vestas] has filed 787 patents connected to wind turbines, according to the Intellectual Property Office database. General Electric Co. has filed 666, Siemens AG has lodged 242 and Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA 102
  72. ↑ Wessel, Lene (26 September 2011), "Siemens continues hunt for engineers", ing.dk
  73. ↑ "Colorado Governor Ritter welcomes Siemens wind research center to Colorado", www.allamericanpatriots.com, 3 June 2008
  74. ↑ Hywind: Siemens and StatoilHydro install first floating wind turbine, Siemens, 10 June 2010
  75. ↑ Så meget koster en havvindmølle (in Danish), Hub North, 4 July 2011
  76. ↑ Wittrup, Sanne (26 November 2014), "6 MW vindmølle betaler sig energimæssigt tilbage 33 gange", Ingeniøren
  77. ↑ A clean energy solution – from cradle to grave - Offshore wind power plant employing SWT-6.0-154 (PDF) (Environmental Product Declaration , Press Release), Siemens
  78. ↑ Energy return on investment (EROI) for wind energy
  79. ↑ Wind turbine payback: Environmental lifecycle assessment of 2-megawatt wind turbines – International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing 2014
  80. ↑ "Siemens bruger neurale netværk til at fjerndiagnosticere havvindmøller". Version2. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2016.

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