The year of 2017 is quickly coming to a close. So, it’s nice to take a moment to reflect on how The Switch has been able to electrify the different businesses and partners that we’ve touched throughout the year.
In wind, we’re so very pleased to see that offshore is moving faster than forecast with outstanding levelized cost of energy. This demonstrates that offshore has now become a viable mainstream solution, which will be our focus as we move forward. Full-power converters, too, have become the technology of choice for wind turbines that deliver unquestionable fault ride-through capability for high grid-quality electricity. Thanks to these favorable winds, we are moving into the new year with a considerably high order backlog for our PMGs and FPCs.
In marine, our all-hands-on-deck efforts throughout the year have started to pay off nicely in terms of building promising partnerships and winning new orders. Our advanced technology for shaft generators, electric propulsion and DC-Hubs has caught the attention of this industry, most recently at Marintec in Shanghai. The Switch is now making waves with products used in next-generation solutions for green shipping.
And with our turbo technology, we’re seeing steady growth coming from new products as well as wider market access and killer applications through Yaskawa. It has taken time to develop these channels, but we’re starting to see the true market potential opening up.
Even geographically, we have been able to penetrate new areas like Japan with our broader range of products – again thanks to the strong support of Yaskawa’s global organization.
As we move into 2018, I feel we are well geared up and ready to go. We have been very active in product development. Now, I look forward to gaining traction in our selected market areas with our whole range of new and more advanced products that will help us maintain our technology leadership.
Wishing you a very happy holiday season to energize yourself with friends and family for 2018!
J-P