The global wind industry recently passed the landmark figure of 1 TW of global installed capacity – a milestone that took 40 years to reach.
However, data from the Global Wind Energy Council indicate that with the wind industry continually gaining momentum, the next terawatt will take less than seven years to install.
To help keep pace with this growth, global renewable energy specialist Ingeteam continues to consolidate its position as a key player in the wind energy industry, covering the design and manufacture of converters and generators.
With five state-of-the-art manufacturing locations in Europe, Asia, North America and South America, Ingeteam offers its capacity to OEMs, utilities and asset owners in the wind energy sector, covering both local and global markets and providing efficient and reliable products and services. The company stands out for its flexibility in designs and R&D solutions, different business models and additional value-added services.
In the wind energy converter market, Ingeteam is the world’s number one independent supplier of power conversion equipment. The company has designed, manufactured and supplied equipment up to a cumulative total power rating of 60 GW from its plants in Spain, India and Brazil.
Ingeteam has also installed generators for a total of 78 GW installed power capacity, manufactured and supplied directly or via third parties. This is equivalent to approximately 8% of the world’s installed wind energy capacity, making Ingeteam one of the top three Western independent wind energy generator manufacturers. Ingeteam generators are built at the company’s plants in Spain and Milwaukee, recently visited by President Joe Biden.
“Our products and solutions are tailored to the requirements of our customers, and our global presence enables us to offer them the flexibility of sourcing components and building products locally, or rapidly shifting production to other locations as demand or regulations change,” says Xabier Irure, global commercial director of Ingeteam Wind Energy.
“We are a complete solutions provider, adding value at every stage, and we can help manage the full product life cycle,” Irure adds. “With our fleet-oriented products and services, we also help to improve the performance of existing wind turbines, reduce operations and maintenance costs and extend the useful lifetime of equipment.”
Technological innovation is a key factor in Ingeteam’s operations, enabling the company to compete in the international arena as a company that is always available to its customers, anytime, anywhere. It allocates approximately 5% of its annual turnover to R&D&I and carries out collaborations with technology centers and universities in R&D programs and projects covered by different official national and international programs.
The company offers a wide range of converters and generators for different topologies; electrical control cabinets; SCADA systems; Ingeteam portfolio equipment for overhaul projects; spare parts, repairs and technical support for Ingeteam products and multi-brand repair and refurbishment services.
It also prioritizes continuous improvement and regulatory compliance. The company uses advanced tools and manufacturing processes following APQP4Wind methodology. This approach enhances quality, efficiency, flexibility and time-to-market.
Ingeteam has a business unit and a technology center, called Ingeteam Research Institute, dedicated to long-term research. Additionally, the company currently has seven testing laboratories to test all new developments, including a lab dedicated to the study, design and validation of 4.0 technologies such as big data, advanced digitization, artificial intelligence and augmented reality.
Ingeteam also has a pioneering laboratory – a benchmark in the wind industry – which combines large electrical machines with converters. It performs full load tests up to 8 MW and back-to-back configuration tests up to 65 MW. It has the capacity to conduct low-voltage ride-through tests, it has a self-generated 50/60 Hz and 20 MVA network that simulates real network operating conditions, and tests of the insulation system are carried out with combined electrical and thermal factors. In addition, it has climate chambers (-30ºC to +80ºC) together with a large dust generation chamber, which allow extreme environmental conditions to be applied, and verify that the power converters are capable of operating in adverse situations.
The company continues to invest heavily in R&D and will soon begin the construction of a new, high-power laboratory to accommodate future new developments.
The company has been active in the wind energy industry for more than 27 years. It has been committed to the internationalization of its factories for 25 years to provide the best response to the demand for its power electronics and rotating machine technology throughout the world.
To meet the needs of its customers globally, the company has production centers on every continent. In addition to its facilities in Milwaukee, it has production centers in Chennai (India), Campinas (Brazil), and Spain, where it manufactures and supplies wind power converters and generators, with an annual production capacity of over 21 GW.
Since it began operations, a total of 80 GW of wind turbines have been equipped with Ingeteam technology, making the company the world’s number one independent solution provider to OEMs, utilities and asset owners in the wind energy sector.
For more information about Ingeteam, click here.
