Siemens Wind Power
History of Siemens Wind Power A/S started in 1980, when Danish irrigation system manufacturer Danregn diversified into the wind turbine business. Its first wind turbines were machines with rotor diameters of around 10 m with generator powers of 20 to 30 kW.[14][15][16] 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, 15 m blade diameter turbine.[14][16][17][18]
The company changed its name from Danregn Vindkraft to Bonus Energy in 1983, an easier name for the English speaking North American market.[15][19]
In 1991, eleven 450 kW Bonus turbines were installed in the Vindeby Offshore Wind Farm, the first offshore wind farm in the world.[20][21]
The company sourced its first blades from Viborg based company Økær Vind Energi.[22] 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.[23]
Bonus A/S was sold to Siemens AG in 2004.[24] The sales and project management headquarters moved to Hamburg, Germany in May 2009.[25]
In 2006, Siemens acquired a former LM Glasfiber wind turbine blade factory in Engesvang, Denmark.[26] In 2007, it constructed a blade factory in Fort Madison, Iowa, United States.[27] A hub factory in Ølgod began production in 2008.[28] A nacelle manufacturing plant was opened in Hutchinson, Kansas in December 2010.[29][30] Additionally Bonus Energy sales and service partner company AN Windenergie GmbH in Bremen (Germany) was acquired in 2005.[27][31]
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;[32] Successful tests led to development of a new production design by 2009. A prototype of the new direct drive design, an IEC 61400 wind class IA, 3 MW machine (SWT 3.0–101 DD) was installed near Brande, Denmark in 2009.[34][35] The 3 MW design was launched as a product in April 2010 and significantly reduced complexity (half the components)[36] and lower nacelle weight than earlier 2.3 MW designs.[37] A 2.3 MW version for lower wind speeds (SWT-2.3–113) was launched in 2011.[38]
In 2010, Siemens Wind Power acquired 49% of A2SEA (an offshore wind farm installation company) from DONG Energy (now Ørsted A/S).[39][40] In 2017, A2SEA was sold to GeoSea.[41]
A factory established in Linggang (Siemens Wind Power Blades (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.) near the Yangshan Deep Water Port began production in 2010.[42] Additionally in December 2010 Siemens announced it would install a blade factory at an existing unused facility in Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada.[43] 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.[44][45]
In May 2011 testing began of a prototype 6 MW direct drive design with a 120 to 154 m rotor, the design was launched as a product in November 2011.[46] In 2013 Siemens announced a development of its 3.6 MW design, the SWT 4.0–130 which used a rotor of diameter 130m with 4 MW 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.[47]
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.[48] The value of the contract was estimated at over £2 billion.[49][50] Prototype 6 MW machines were installed at the Gunfleet Sands 2 wind farm in 2013;[51] with the first full scale commercial installation of 6 MW machines at the 210 MW Westernmost Rough wind farm in 2014.[52] 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 US for wind power.[53] (see United States Wind Energy Policy.)
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.[54][55] In 2014 the planned factory at Paull was abandoned, with all production to be concentrated at the Alexandra dock site.[56] Revised plans for the site submitted April 2015 included only a blade manufacturing factory at the site with no nacelle production.[57]
In 2015 Siemens upgraded its 6 MW offshore design to a rated 7 MW power with a larger permanent magnet generator,[58] and further to 8 MW in 2016.[59] The first order for the 7 MW design was awarded in October 2015 for 47 turbines in the Walney 3 offshore.[60]
In early 2015 Siemens announced it had reached agreements to build 2 GW of wind turbines in Egypt, and to construct a blade factory in that country, as part of a larger power generation agreement.[61][62] The €8 billion, 16.4 GW energy development deal was signed in June 2015, including an approximate 1000 worker blade factory in Ain Soukhna and 12 wind farms (600 turbine, 2 GW) in the Gulf of Suez and west Nile areas of Egypt.[63]
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.[64][65] A€100 million blade plant to be built in the Tanger Automotive City (near Tanger-Med port) in Morocco was announced in early 2016.[66][67]
In February 2017 Siemens announced the closure of the Engesvang blade factory (Denmark), with the loss of 430 jobs, citing the plants inability to produce larger size blades.[68][69]
