WinWinD, a Finnish manufacturer of wind turbines, has made an agreement with SKF, one of the world's leading bearing manufacturers, concerning main bearings to be supplied for WinWinD's three-megawatt wind turbines.
A wind turbine main bearing receives the load from the wind to the main gear unit, which increases the rotor speed to a convenient level for the generator. The main bearing, among the main gear unit, is one of the most important mechanical components in the wind turbine. It is expected to be highly reliable during the calculated turbine life time.
SKF has been WinWinD’s partner in areas of lubrication, sealing and condition monitoring. The new agreement brings the partnership closer and gives excellent opportunities to develop even more energy efficient wind turbines. The agreement with the parties will cover main bearing deliveries until the end of 2013. The bearings to be delivered from SKF to WinWinD include the latest, state of the art technology, where the bearing manufacturing process also decreases the overall environmental impact significantly.“In the new solution, we seek operational reliability above all, since changing the bearing or making repairs at a tower height of over one hundred meters is expensive and time-consuming. New manufacturing technologies also make it possible to reduce bearing manufacturing process throughput times significantly, which improves the availability of larger bearings in the future”, says WinWinD’s CEO, Ilkka Hakala.
”The agreement with WinWinD is very important to SKF. It gives us the possibility to use the latest technology in developing wind turbines”, says Key Account Manager Jukka Mäkinen from Oy SKF Ab. ”Renewable energy, and wind power in particular, has for a long time been one of SKF’s focus areas. Close co-operation with leading wind turbine manufacturers is especially important in this rapidly developing technology sector. We are very pleased with this contract and the co-operation with WinWinD”, summarizes Sales Director Vesa Alatalo.
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