Supply Chain In Wind Turbines

6/29/2012

Supply Chain in Wind Turbines
Global Supply Chain Management
TU Berlin: Technische Universität Berlin



Javier Cangas Vigil-Escalera 341940
Angelica Andrade xxxxx
Maria Fernanda de Lorenzi xxxxx

Table of Contents
I. Introduction 3
II. Market Aspects 3
1. Industry Profile 3
2. Onshore and Offshore 3
3. The U.S. example 4
4. An Overview of theMarket 4
III. Supply Chain 5
1. Overview of the Supply Chain 5
2. Raw Materials 5
3. Components 6
b. Gearboxes 6
c. Bearings 6
d. Generators 6
e. Cast Iron and forged components 7
f. Towers 7
g. Production Methods 7
4. Project Development Phase 7
5. Logistics 7
6. Construction 8
IV. Future Prospects 8
V. Cases - From Theory to Practice 9
1. GE WINDENERGY 9
2. SUZLON ENERGY LIMITED 10
3. GAMESA 10
4. Goldwind 11
VI. Conclusion – Analysis 11
VII. Literature 13

I. Introduction
”Within the next two years, wind will generate 5 percent of the planet’s electricity and continue to be one of the top three new power generation sources in the next decade.”
Vic Abate, vice president of renewable energy for GE and former chairmanof the American Wind Energy Association board of directors.

The global wind industry has grown rapidly in recent years, manufacturing capacity is increasing and the component supply chain is stretched to its limits. For the past years, the wind turbine supply chain, have been about component redesign, reconfiguration of component production lines, realignment of manufacturing locations and moreconservative capacity addition.
Suppliers are now better positioned to respond quickly to the market and the wind industry is also becoming truly global with significant advances being made in Europe, North America and Asia. In addition, the rapid growth of the offshore wind market has created further opportunities for suppliers. As a result manufacturers and component suppliers have now had tostart thinking globally.

II. Market Aspects
1. Industry Profile
The wind turbine manufacturing industry is rapidly expanding due to the increase in wind turbine installations all over the world. It has been expanding the product range and the market scope.
This trend can be observed in the following figure (1); already in 2004, the most important companies of that time were movingtowards a more global scope and with a wider product range.

1. Siemens, GE Wind,Gamesa, Mitsubishi
2. RE Power, Ecotécnia, Suzlon, Nordex
3. Vesta, Enercon

2. Onshore and Offshore
Wind turbines can be installed Onshore (land) or Offshore (water). The Onshore wind turbines installations in hilly or mountainous are done to exploit the topographic acceleration as the windaccelerates over a ridge. The additional wind speeds gained in this way can increase energy produced because more wind goes through the turbines.
The Offshore wind turbines are less prominent than turbines on land, as their evident size and noise is mitigated by distance. For this reason, water has less uneven surface than land (mainly deeper water) and the average wind speed is usually higher over openwater. Therefore the utilization rates are by far higher than onshore locations.

3. The U.S. example
Taking as example one of the most important wind supply chain, the U.S. wind turbine supply chain, it is possible to affirm that it consists of a combination of in-house production and outsourcing with many European suppliers strongly positioned in the supply chain.
Most Original EquipmentManufacturers manufacturing in the United States want to localize important pieces of the supply chain in order to reduce transportation costs and logistical difficulties, avoid import duties, and mitigate the risks associated with currency fluctuations.
As a result, European suppliers are investing in U.S. production and U.S. companies are entering the wind turbine manufacturing industry as...