Brevini Wind supplies 1 MW gearboxes for WinWinD?s 1 MW wind turbines

Brevini Wind has signed a development and supply agreement with Winwind for the manufacturing of 1 MW main gearboxes at its subsidiary Brevini Wind USA, Inc, a new established factory in Yorktown, Indiana (USA). The production for this type of gearbox has started recently. Brevini Wind, which is part of Brevini Group, leader in the wind gearbox business for the last 20 years with its product range of pitch and yaw drives, began in 2007 the development of its main gearbox program. Its German subsidiary Brevini Wind Deutschland has developed in close co-operation with Winwind, from its engineering department at Bad Homburg (Germany), a new planetary main gearbox for deployment in Winwind’s 1 MW turbine.

“We are very excited to start also this 1 MW wind energy project with Winwind, after the 3 MW main gearbox that we successfully developed in 2010. Both wind power projects show very innovative solutions, and reduce significantly the size of the electrical components. The Brevini Wind 1 MW gearbox is designed for turbines where the main bearing is integrated in the gearbox, allowing a direct assembled generator and thus saving length of the frame and weight of the nacelle.

We believe that with our activity in Europe and USA we are building new bridges in the global main gearbox supply chain that will greatly benefit the entire wind energy industry, especially the United States Market, as these gearboxes are manufactured in our Indiana facility through our newly established U.S. supply chain”, says Jacopo Tozzi, President of Brevini Wind.

The gearbox for Winwind’s 1 MW wind turbine is the second large contract between Brevini Wind and Winwind. In close cooperation the two companies developed a very compact design that allows substantial improvements in terms of space and a lighter nacelle.

“The product offerings from Brevini offer a comprehensive one stop shop solution for the pitch and yaw drives and gearboxes for Winwind’s 1 MW and 3 MW wind turbines, providing the global sourcing team a synergy based sourcing option”, according to Farhan Mirza, Vice President and Global Head of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain Management at Winwind Ltd.

With over 80% of current wind gearboxes being manufactured outside of the U.S. wind energy market Brevini Wind believes this is the beginning of change in wind turbine supply chain trends in North America. Brevini Wind operations have significant competitive advantages in two locations, excellent design capabilities, two identical test benches of 6.4 MW, one in Brevini Wind USA and one in Germany, in house heat treatment and most updated manufacturing equipment.

www.winwind.com/