ENVIRONMENT JUNE 2016 55 Even the emperor was already very fond of the high seas and sailed across the oceans with the Imperial and Royal Navy. There may be no Austrian emperor anymore today but the connection to the sea remains - at least in the offshore wind power industry where several Austrian companies play a signifi cant role in the expansion of offshore wind power generation. A total amount of 18 billion euros was invested in the expansion of wind power plants in European seas. Even though Austria is a landlocked country in the heart of Europe, quite a few domestic companies fi rmly established themselves as suppliers for this industry. “Austria’s access to the sea may have been a thing of the past for more than a hundred years but Austrian companies are still closely connected to the sea with their wind power technology,” says Stefan Moidl, Managing Director of the Austrian Wind Energy Association. A YOUNG CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF WIND POWER GENERATION Generating wind energy at sea is a young chapter in the history of wind power production. The fi rst seaside wind park in Denmark was only built in 1991, even though there were already several wind turbines installed around the world at this point, generating a total output of 2,500 MW. At this time, offshore wind turbines had a generating capacity of 0.45 MW. The eleven facilities of the Danish wind park in Vindeby generated 0.2 % of the world’s wind-generated power. OFFSHORE WIND POWER MADE IN AUSTRIA The Geislinger company in Carinthia’s Bad St. Leonhard and Hallwang near Salzburg manufactures couplings for the world’s biggest wind turbines. Geislinger already delivers one coupling for offshore wind turbines every week. Wind power is therefore a signifi cant contributor to this company’s goal to become the world market leader for couplings. PALFINGER MARINE is another company located in Salzburg that delivered more than 280 cranes for offshore wind turbines in 2015. “We had incoming orders for all our types of cranes in 2015, from nacelle to platform and substation cranes. The biggest orders came from wind parks in Rampion (UK) with 116, and Race Bank (UK) with 93 electric platform cranes. Windpark Nordergründe (GER) ordered 18 hydraulic knuckle boom cranes; Nordsee One (GER) ordered 54 of them. We expect several follow-up orders for 2016 as well – we see a constant upward trend that should continue through 2016 and beyond,” says Martin Zauner, Head of Wind Cranes at PALFINGER MARINE. The Styrian transformer plant in Weiz is the market leader and exclusive manufacturer of transformers within the company for Siemens’ turnkey wind parks, for onshore as well as offshore projects. The Styrian plant’s transformers are used in every wind park that Siemens builds. The plant is the market leader in this industry with a market share of approximately 80 percent in the offshore wind park sector. Weiz is Siemens’ biggest site for the development and construction of transformers. Within the company, it is considered as a global competence centre for phase-shifting transformers and a singlesource supplier for Siemens’ wind parks around the world. There are currently around 1,200 employees and apprentices working at the plant. The orders that Siemens handles in Weiz also contribute significantly to local value creation. When Siemens develops and produces transformers in Weiz, up to 900 further companies all over Austria benefi t from and contribute to their production. FACTS & FIGURES 754 wind turbines in 22 wind parks with a total output of 3,019 MW were built in European seas in 2015. This means that there are already 3,230 European offshore wind turbines in 82 wind parks with a total output of 11,027 MW. This amounts to approximately 8 % of Europe’s total wind power capacity. All offshore wind turbines already generate enough power to cover 1.5 % of Europe’s energy consumption. Austrian companies are vital suppliers for the sea-based wind power sector. STEFAN MOIDL, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE AUSTRIAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION »
NEW BUSINESS - EXPORT TODAY 1/2016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above