If you’re interested in jumping into renewable wind energy, there are three turbine suppliers you need to know about. These wind power companies blew past the competition in 2016 to become the top wind energy turbine suppliers—and paying attention to what they are up to is a great way to see how you might be able to become involved in their current projects. Take a look.
Source: Energy Acuity Renewables Database
1. Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish superpower in the wind industry. Vestas bills itself as “the only global energy company dedicated exclusively to wind energy,” and the company is one of the largest wind companies in the world. In 2016, Vestas completed 23 projects for a total of 3.884 GW.
Highlighted Project: Cimmaron Bend
Cimarron Bend is a 400-MW project in Clark County, Kansas. This project was developed by Enel Green Power North America, a global renewable energy development company, in partnership with Tradewind Energy. Two hundred MW were completed in 2016, and another 200 MW came online in the first quarter of 2017. According to Tradewind Energy, the developer of the project, the power produced from the Cimarron Bend I Wind Project was sold to Google, and the power produced from the Cimarron Bend II Wind Project was sold to BPU.
2. GE Energy
In 2002, General Electric (GE) entered the renewable wind power companies arena with one wind turbine model; now the company offers a full suite of turbines created for a variety of wind environments.
GE obviously has its hand in a lot of different industries, but it is also one of the more prevalent turbine manufacturers in the wind industry. In 2016, GE completed 27 projects for a total of 3.66 GW.
Highlighted Project: Wake Wind Energy
Wake Wind Energy is a 257-MW project in Dickens, Crosby, and Floyd Counties in Texas. This energy farm was developed by Invenergy LLC, and in October 2016, Southern Power announced their acquisition of a controlling interest in the wind farm, the company’s first wind acquisition in Texas. This project is selling energy to both the ERCOT market as well as to commercial users, including Owens Corning, an insulation and fiberglass manufacturer, and Equinix Inc., a data center company.
Wake Wind utilizes 150 wind turbines manufactured by General Electric Renewable Energy. Each turbine is mounted on top of an 80-meter-tall tower and has a 108-meter, three-blade rotor connected to a generator. Multiple wind turbines are electrically connected in parallel to the main power transformers where the energy is converted from 34.5 kV to 345 kV for interconnection. (Southern Power)
3. Siemens
Siemens, the well-known German conglomerate with reach in industries from manufacturing to health care, to electronics, is also a German turbine manufacturer with a substantial global presence in the wind industry. In 2016, the wind power company completed five projects for 839.38 MW.
Highlighted Project: Adams Wind Farm
Adams Wind Farm, also known as Wind IX, is a 162-MW wind project in Adams County, Iowa, completed in early 2016. This 64-turbine wind farm was developed by MidAmerican Energy and features the tallest land-based wind turbine in the nation: The turbine measures 557 feet to the blade tips, which makes it taller than the Washington Monument. Instead of an all-steel structure, this turbine features a concrete base. You can see the turbine’s construction in this awesome time-lapse video from MidAmerican Energy.
Takeaways
While Siemens market share for 2016 was fairly smaller than Vestas and GE Energy, the company’s overall installed U.S. capacity is a robust 13.494 GW. This is smaller than the 37.479 GW installed by GE Energy and 18.977 GW installed by Vestas, but these three companies combine for a total of almost 70 GW.
The remainder of the top 20 turbine suppliers for U.S. projects combine to total about 18.5 GW, so Vestas, GE, and Siemens are well-established as the top turbine suppliers of wind power companies in the country.
To find out more about these top wind energy companies and their projects—as well as other suppliers and how you could potentially get involved—check out the full version of the project profiles in the Energy Acuity Renewables Platform.
Source: Energy Acuity Renewables Database
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