Siemens Wind Power

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Wind power industry
Predecessor(s)	Danregn Vindkraft A/S Bonus Energy A/S
Founded	1980 in Brande, Denmark
Founder(s)	Peter Stubkjær Sørensen Egon Kristensen
Headquarters	Hamburg, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Felix Ferlemann (CEO), Henrik Stiesdal (CTO)
Products	Wind turbines
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 2011, Siemens Wind Power had 6.3% share of the world wind turbine market.^[1] In 2009 it had a market share of nearly 75% of European offshore wind turbines by capacity and number.^[2]

History [edit]

External images

Danregn in 1982 - farm watering equipment and wind turbines

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).^[3][4][5] 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.^[3][5][6][7]

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;^[3][5] the company changed its name from Danregn Vindkraft to Bonus Energy in 1983, an easier name for the English speaking North American market.^[4][8]

In 1991, eleven 450 kW Bonus turbines were installed in the Vindeby Wind Farm (Denmark), the first offshore wind farm in the world.^[9][10]

The company sourced its first blades from Viborg based company Økær Vind Energi.^[11] 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.^{[12][note 1]}

Bonus AS was sold to Siemens in 2004 for an undisclosed amount,^[13] 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).^[14] The sales and project management headquarters moved to Hamburg, Germany in May 2009.^[15]

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,^[16] and 1,000 in Germany.^[17] The growth included the expansion of production, warehousing and offices at its Brande site in 2005/6;^[18] acquisition in 2006 of a former LM Glasfiber wind turbine blade factory in Engesvang, Denmark;^[19] construction of a blade factory in Fort Madison, Iowa, USA in 2007;^[18] a hub factory in Ølgod began production in 2008;^[20] and a nacelle manufacturing plant was established in Hutchinson, Kansas, USA between 2009 and 2010, opening in December 2010.^[21] Additionally Bonus Energy sales and service partner company AN Windenergie GmbH of Bremen, Germany was acquired in 2005.^[18][22]

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;^[23] successful tests led to development of a new production design by 2009.^[24] 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.^[24][25] The 3MW design was launched as a product in April 2010, with significantly reduced complexity and lower nacelle weight than earlier 2.3MW designs.^[26] A 2.3MW version for lower wind speeds (SWT-2.3-113) was launched in 2011.^[27]

In 2010 Siemens Wind Power acquired 49% of A2SEA (an offshore wind farm installation company) from DONG Energy for a price of DKK 860m.^[28][29]

A factory established by Siemens Wind Power Blades (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (SWPB) in Linggang near the Yangshan Deep Water Port began production in 2010.^[30] Additionally in December 2010 Siemens announced it would install a blade factory at an existing unused facility in Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada.^[31] 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.^[32][33]

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.^[17][34][35]

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.^[36] The value of the contract was estimated at over £2 billion.^[37][38]

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.^[39]

Operations [edit]

Siemens Wind has R&D, and production facilities in Brande, Denmark. Blade production is located in Aalborg and Engesvang (Denmark), Linggang (China), Fort Madision, Iowas (USA) and Tillsonburg, Ontario (Canada).

Other established production sites included nacelle manufacture at Hutchinson, Kansas (USA) and hub production at Ølgod (Denmark). Engineering and management for Siemens Wind North Americas is headquartered in Orlando, Florida (USA).

Products [edit]

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

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 390 ft) rotors. Product codes SWT-3.0-101; SWT-3.6-107; SWT-3.6-120.^[40]

A 6MW design with a 120 to 154 m (390 to 505 ft) rotor is also under development - a prototype began testing in May 2011, and the design was launched as a product in November 2011.^[41]

Joint ventures [edit]

In December 2011 Siemens signed a strategic collaboration agreement with Shanghai Electric for wind power supply in China.^[42]

Research and development [edit]

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.^[43]

In 2008, a R&D center was opened in Boulder, Colorado, stating that it could recruit higher quality aerodynamicists in the location than in Denmark.^[44][45]

In 2009 a Siemens supplied SWT-2.3-82 turbine was installed on "Hywind", the first large capacity floating wind turbine in the world, developed by Statoil.^[46]

See also [edit]

Companies portal

• List of wind turbine manufacturers
• List of Danish wind turbine manufacturers
• Renewable energy industry
• Wind power
• Wind power in Denmark

Notes [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Siemens Wind Power

• "Wind Power - Siemens", www.energy.siemens.com (Siemens) 
• Bonus Energy, Bonus Energy A/S, archived from the original on 25 January 1999 , archive of Bonus Energy A/S website

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