TURBINES: CAN’T GET ENOUGH

Alternative Energy Hurt By a Windmill Shortage; While Projects in U.S. Stall, Europe’s Utilities Expand Their Reach
July 9, 2007 (Wall Street Journal)

WHO
- Wind energy installers all over the world
- Top 5 turbine makers (2006): Vestas, Gamesa, GE Wind, Enercon, Suzlon + REPower
- Top 5 wind installers/producers (2006): Iberdrola +Scottish Power/PPM, FPL, Acciona Windpower, Babcock and Brown Wind Partners, Endesa
a modern wind turbine is a complex instrument (click to enlarge)

WHAT
The demand for wind turbines is so great many manufacturers are booked through 2009.

WHEN
The present boom in wind energy is affecting day-to-day installation plans.

WHERE
All over the world. From China to the American Midwest, From California to Jordan.
Vestas Denmark), Gamesa (Spain), GE Wind (U.S.), Enercon (Germany), Suzlon + REPower (India/Germany), Iberdrola +Scottish Power/PPM (Spain), FPL (U.S), Acciona Windpower (Spain), Babcock and Brown Wind Partners (Australia), Endesa (Spain)

WHY
- Contemporary wind turbines are complicated pieces of machinery with up to 8000 crucial parts. Demand is far outstripping supply for parts as well as labor.
- European companies, in the business longer than U.S. counterparts, saw the crunch coming and locked in parts manufacturers contracts. As a result, they are now in strong financial positions and buying up U.S. turbine-installing companies. See Wind In Spain Buys Wind In Maine
- U.S. wind energy companies were also crippled by inconsistent government policies.
- 5 manufacturers make 80% of world wind turbines.
- A 1.5 megawatt turbine costs $1.2 million. Many planned are 2.5 megawatts and designers are thinking in terms of 5 megawatts.
and then there's the installation...

QUOTES
- Brent Alderfer, founder/ceo, Community Wind Energy Inc.: "We were like an airline sitting there and being told we had to wait three years to get our airplanes…"
- Miguel Salis, head, financing fund Eolia: "The biggest restriction right now to wind power's growth -- everywhere, not just in the U.S. -- is the lack of turbines…[Many developers have] projects under way but can't get them completed, often because the turbine makers don't give them the time of day."
- Ditlev Engel, ceo, Vestas A/S: "We are no stronger than the last delivered component out of the 8,000 components…
- Xavier Viteri, head of renewable energy, Iberdrola: “[Wind energy in the U.S.] is like Europe was years ago…There's a lot of room for development there, and there is a lot of expertise here."