The 4th Annual Wind Energy Operations and Maintenance Summit will address the global wind-turbine-gear industry and examine themes, such as how main-transmission failures in wind turbines compare with similar planetary drives in non-wind applications. The Summit takes place from April 25 to 27, 2012 at the Dallas Marriott City Center Hotel in Texas.
Also on the agenda is the current state of the wind energy supply chain, the use of slewing, worm, and parallel-shaft arrangements versus yaw and pitch drives as well as increasing visibility of gearbox performance data for wind-turbine operators.
Further Summit topics include:
• O&M markets and trends for 2012 and beyond
• End of warranty options (EOW)
• Retrofit technology and repowering
• Advanced monitoring technologies
• Life extension of critical components
• Major part failure, upgrading and repair
• Grid integration and curtailment
Global gear manufacturer David Brown Ltd. will present a paper in the Summit’s “Solutions for asset-life cost containment” session, as well as participate in the interactive panel discussion focused on improving gearbox reliability. The company will discuss how best to use the latest industry experience, proven technology, and O&M strategies to maximize power generation and reduce costs in wind farms.
A team from the gear manufacturer will address how leveraging global experience, such as that from mission critical industries, goes beyond current equipment specifications to drive the wind-turbine-gear industry. The discussion will focus on David Brown’s operations model as a case study.
“Our goal at the Summit,” says Tom Marek, David Brown’s North American Business Unit Leader Wind Energy, “is to talk frankly about gearing issues in the wind industry and then how our global engineering, service, and production network can address the needs of wind-turbine owners. It is important we address the industry’s gearing issues to move forward to lower life costs, and ultimately the cost of energy for the industry’s operators.”
This follows the recent announcement of the company’s acquisition of the Canadian industrial gear manufacturer Unigear Industries Inc, as part of its North American growth strategy, as well as its recent signing of a multi-million dollar contract with Samsung Heavy Industries to design, develop, and manufacture an innovative 7 MW offshore wind gearbox.
Companies confirmed include E.ON Climate & Renewables, AES Wind Generation, Iberdrola Renewables, Duke Energy, EDP Renewables, Infigen Energy, Edison Mission, TransAlta, Wind Capital Group, enXco, GE, Acciona, NERC, Praxis, Hytorc, Foundation Engineering, Complete Wind and many more.
Wind Energy Update
http://www.windenergyupdate.com/operations-maintenance-usa
David Brown
www.davidbrown.com
Filed Under: Gearboxes, News, O&M
