China's XEMC VWEC Secures First European Order for Gearless Wind Turbines

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources Europe (Galway, Ireland)--Irish renewable energy firm Gaelectric (Dublin, Ireland) has awarded a contract worth €18 million ($24.6 million) to XEMC VWEC, a member of China's XMEC Group (Xiangtan, China), to supply gearless wind turbines.

The deal will see the first commercial deployment of XMEC VWEC's XV90-model wind turbines in Europe at three Gaelectric onshore sites in Roosky, County Roscommon; Leabeg, County Offaly; and Crowinstown, County Westmeath. The facilities will have a combined generating capacity of 13.6 megawatts (MW).

Commenting at a contract-signing ceremony with Gaelectric at its headquarters in Dublin, XEMC Group Chairman Zhou Jianxiong, said: "Gaelectric's pipeline of windfarm projects in key locations, combined with our shared focus on innovation in renewable energy technologies, makes us ideal allies in co-developing Gaelectric's portfolio of renewable power projects. We are particularly pleased that the sites that we intend to co-develop with Gaelectric are very suited to establishing our Direct Drive Permanent Magnet Generator (PMG) turbine technology as the leading global wind generation technology, delivering low service and maintenance costs, competitive pricing, and high availability and annual yield."

In 2009, XEMC acquired Dutch renewable energy technology firm Darwind and, since then, has continued to develop Direct Drive PMG technologies that can operate without a gearbox, helping reduce weight and improve reliability of the turbines. XEMC is supporting the further development of this PMG technology with its development of a 5-MW offshore wind turbine. A prototype of this offshore turbine has recently been installed at a turbine test centre in the Netherlands.

XEMC is also working with renewable energy firm Titan Energy Associates (Belfast, Northern Ireland) on a proposal to locate wind turbine assembly and blade manufacturing plants in Northern Ireland. If approved, XEMC will invest £95 million ($150 million) and create 600 jobs at two locations.

Other Chinese turbine makers are seeking to expand in Europe as the region adds windfarms to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Sinovel Wind Group (Beijing) agreed to a deal with Ireland's Mainstream Renewable Power (Dublin) in July and with Public Power Corporation SA (Athens, Greece) to develop plants in Greece.

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