Vantaa, Finland June 13, 2008 – The Switch has again taken giant leaps ahead in its chosen area of delivering megawatt-class converter and generator packages for wind power and other renewable energy applications. Now with new and repeat orders from customers in the tens of millions of euros, The Switch dominates as technology leader in full-power converters (FPC) and permanent magnet generators (PMG), and has strengthened its position as a market leading supplier.
The wind power market has been growing rapidly, but the growth of The Switch has been even faster. Just since the beginning of 2008, The Switch has received orders worth tens of millions of Euros. This includes a significant repeat order from China as well as new orders from customers in Germany, India and China. The strong order backlog extends well into the following year. Several of these orders are from new customers acquired during the first half of the year, but also the company has been very successful in gaining repeat orders and growing accounts through volume production with existing customers.
“By completing our new generator and power converter packages, we have widened our product portfolio to encompass the most modern wind turbine drive trains, including geared and semi-geared models. This has further strengthened our market leading position in megawatt-class FPCs, as well as boosted our progress with PMGs, both used as components in wind power applications,” says Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen, President and CEO of The Switch. “Our unique way of combining these key components into an optimized package is becoming the preferred approach in modern turbine development. The technology we offer reduces mechanical stress and increases energy yield, while making it easy to meet even the most stringent power quality requirements.”
Presently, The Switch is now ramping up production in its factories in Finland and abroad. Until now, the company has been primarily focused on delivering its design concepts, which offer an impressive cumulative knowledge and experience in this field to customers in the form of fast time to market and high production capacity.
The Switch employs over 120 persons based at the various The Switch facilities in Vaasa, Lappeenranta and Vantaa, Finland; Husdon, New Hampshire, USA; and Lu’an and Beijing, China.