WANTED: Design Engineer

We are looking for a mechanical engineer to design electrical machines as part of our customer-focused product development projects. You’ll take a lead engineer role in our customer-specific sales projects and work closely with our Technical Account Manager.

WANTED: Test Engineers/Managers

We are looking for two Test Engineers/Managers, one to Vaasa and another one to Lappeenranta. Your task will be production testing and inspection of our converters and generators.

Efficient grid interconnection and power conditioning for CHP systems

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems are very popular in high-rise buildings as well as industrial sites and other facilities where they produce heat and power at a reasonable cost. CHP systems can save as much as 40% energy compared with traditional ways of producing electricity and heat separately.

How can you save even more? And simultaneously increase the reliability and safety of onsite energy production and grid interconnection? There are a couple of rather easy ways to improve overall efficiency.

The Switch - Risto Ahvo

Life’s comforts and electronics

What do wind turbines and summer cottages have in common? They are quite similar. Perhaps not in numbers, but from a technology point of view. Some are equipped with features only considered necessary for survival; others have ultra-modern technical solutions that even enable remote access to monitoring equipment by mobile phone. Both in cottages and turbines, features requested in the 90s may not live up to our needs today.

The Switch - Jussi Paakkunainen

Utility-grade solar – built for tough

In many ways, there isn’t much new in renewable energy. Renewable energy, of course, is new in the sense of what it means. The energy source renews itself and its availability is as such plentiful. Yet, both wind and hydro energy have been captured for hundreds of years, for example, in sailboats, windmills, hydro powered mills, saws and other equipment. Solar was harvested in greenhouses and for heating long before there were photovoltaic panels.

The Switch - Benny Nyberg, Key Account Manager/Business Development

Permanent magnets help marine cut costs

Soaring fuel prices and global overcapacity are forcing the marine industry to rethink conventional power configurations. Ship owners are struggling to turn a profit. The time has come for advanced technologies that can revolutionize the way ships generate and use energy.

The Switch’s permanent magnet technology has been proven in the harsh environments of the wind industry. Now, we’re making this technology available to marine to offer unmatched power density, energy efficiency, design flexibility and operational reliability.

The Switch - Mika Koli, Key Account Manager

Permanent magnet generator becomes standard in wind turbines

The debate still continues about which drive train is the best for a wind turbine. In 2011, 42.3 GW of wind generators were delivered; PMG’s share was 6.5 GW, which gives it a 15% market share. This is already a significant accomplishment. So we can say that PMG is a standard option and no longer just a technology trial.

Although wind industry growth has slowed down to an annual average of 3.8%, MAKE consulting estimates for the next five years that PMGs will keep growing faster than the average market growth rate.

The Switch - 2nd International Conference E/E Systems for Wind Turbines

Keeping the lights on

Hurricane Sandy was the most destructive tropical cyclone of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the second-costliest hurricane in US history, making landfall on October 29. The storm caused massive electrical grid damages in New Jersey, New York and many New England areas, causing power outages for businesses, industrial sites, medical centers, and countless homes.

It showed just how helpless we are when this kind of natural disaster happens in our own backyard. As a result, building management now aims to ensure that buildings do not lose electrical power during such a disaster because of a missing emergency power generation system.

The Switch - Risto Ahvo

Value creation for all wind energy players

Between 2009 – 2011, we were spoiled by a “green race” that started as a sprint. There was an urgent need to bring Asian nations—especially China—into line with the rest of the world to use cleaner and more efficient energy sources.

Suddenly in 2012, it’s turned into something of a marathon, with companies and financial institutions involved in the market, which has been slowed by regulatory and political climates that have evolved in the face of new economic realities.

The Switch - Carlo Cecchi, Director, Business Development

The Switch UpDate 360°

Now, the presentations from our The Switch UpDate 360° in Vaasa, Finland on March 13, 2013, are available online.

Welcome to our many different viewpoints on how to become more competitive 
in today’s tricky renewable energy environment.

The Switch - The Switch 360° UpDate 2013