Barre, Vt.-based Northern Power Systems Inc., a manufacturer of community wind direct-drive turbines, has announced the acquisition of the assets of Knight & Carver Wind Group's community wind turbine blade manufacturing business.
One of the factors in deciding to acquire Knight & Carver's blade business was to have more quality control, according to Parthiv Amin, president of community wind at Northern Power Systems.
‘We wanted to vertically integrate the technology so we could control not only the technology, but also the quality and the processes,’ he explains.
Because community wind is still a growing business, the supply chain does not exist to the extent that it does in the utility-scale wind turbine sector.
‘We have a better focus on quality and availability, and [the acquisition] allows us to grow faster by having it in house,’ explains Amin.
Knight & Carver's blade manufacturing facilities are located in San Diego, and Northern Power Systems plans to keep operations at that location for the foreseeable future.
‘As the business grows and the customers become diverse, in terms of location, we might have to look at other possibilities,’ says Amin.
Northern Power Systems recently announced plans to use a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to help fund development and commercialization of a midsize permanent magnet direct-drive 450 kW wind turbine, the Northern Power 450.
SOURCE: Northern Power Systems
