In the marine industry shipbuilders are understandably reluctant to spend money on more expensive, possibly riskier innovative clean technologies and equipment. However, current investment trends are pressuring companies to pay attention to their environmental and social imprint.
I promised you last July in my first newsletter to keep our customers in the center of all our activities. I made this promise because I really believe that key to our success as a product supplier is to support the business of our existing and new customers in all possible ways.
I feel that I wrote my last newsletter intro just recently. Still, it seems to be already more than 3 months ago. I must say time is flying fast! But then again while looking back, I can see that a lot has happened since July.
Today, the number of projects involving hybrid solutions or alternate energy sources is exploding. Now, there are plenty of hybrid solutions with proven install bases, and the accessibility and ROI potential of hybrid solutions is starting to get within acceptable parameters. But what will the future bring?
On January 1, the IMO 2020 rule went into effect, reducing the amount of sulfur allowed in marine fuels to 0.5%. With over 170 countries on board, the benefits should add up quickly. But if you’re not compliant already, what’s the best way to adapt?
For us, the marine business is more conservative and complex than the wind industry where we started. Convincing the historically conventional stakeholders of the superiority of PM technology is challenging. Yet still, the progress made is great.
During 2011, permanent magnet machine manufacturers experienced moments of fear. The prices for rare earth materials were spiraling upwards uncontrollably. Since then, the situation has stabilized to a level slightly higher than before the crisis. But what’s the overall situation right now?
The Switch has won a number of major new customers in China and Europe, with orders worth tens of millions of euros already received.
“We have gained a number of new customers in China and Europe, who have already placed significant orders with us. Permanent magnet generators and power converters have demonstrated their benefits and become the preferred basic solution in new wind turbine models,” says Jukka-Pekka Mäkinen, CEO of The Switch.
In 2018, the offshore wind market grew by 0.5% to 4.49 GW of new installations, and the total installed wind capacity saw an increase of 9.6% compared to the end of 2017. So, what kind of effect this had on our ongoing production efforts?
This June, marine power module number 4,000 was successfully produced and tested in Stord, Norway. It is now ready for delivery to the vessel with a golden nameplate.
Effective March 1st 2019, Manfred Stern, President & CEO of YASKAWA Europe, passes the operational leadership to Bruno Schnekenburger, presently COO of YASKAWA Europe .
GWEC has released their latest global wind energy statistics. Total new installed capacity of wind energy reached 51.3 GW in 2018.