Nordex looks to grow in the wind

Saving energy, environmental protection and increasing output at lower costs are crucial to businesses today around the world.

Among moves to protect the environment is increasing use of wind power, a clean energy that has powerful advantages over other sources of energy.

To meet increasing demand, almost all wind turbine manufacturers are making strategic adjustments and technological improvements.

One of the industry leaders is Nordex AG, headquartered near Hamburg, Germany. It has developed a new "8D" plan to serve the rapidly expanding market for wind turbines by perfecting its supply chain, the company said.

In the 1990s, 600 kW wind turbines were the industry standard, but by 2001, capacity had grown to 1 mW generators. The major product Nordex now promotes in China has a capacity of 1.5 mW.

The company has built a plant to assemble nacelles - the motor housing unit - and rotor blades in China and has plans to produce a 2-3 mW turbines series that will first be used in a wind farm offshore Germany in 2009.

Nordex said China's wind power industry offers both opportunities and challenges because the nation is at an initial stage in wind power policy, techniques, market investment, and project management. Other issues are the cost of manufacturing turbines, unbalanced geographical sources of the wind itself and the technology needed.

The company noted that multinationals like Nordex need to localize to succeed in China. Assuring product quality and satisfactory services while meeting policies set by the Chinese government are important to guarantee the healthy development of the wind industry, it said.

Provided by Nordex China

(China Daily 05/09/2008 page19)