In July, Moventas’ OEM quality facility in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, will complete a substantial upgrade with a full load test rig for after sales service use.
Moventas Gears UK, formerly DB Wind UK, is in the final stages of refurbishing and upgrading its Huddersfield workshop in West Yorkshire. The gearbox specialist has made a capital investment in a 3.6-MW load test rig, flexibly designed to accommodate Moventas’ multi-brand service approach.
Supported by the UK government, the Huddersfield upgrade is part of a regional growth initiative. The test field will be operational this July and ready to support customers in the second half of 2016.
Moventas is the first gearbox service partner in the UK to provide multi megawatt full load testing, which is an essential part of most gearbox service operations. From now on, serviced gearboxes no longer need to be sent to mainland Europe for testing, which minimizes logistics costs and carbon footprint.
“With 35 years of wind-turbine gearbox experience, industry leading technology and state of the art manufacturing facilities, Moventas is ideally placed to support the servicing of the UK installed base of wind turbines from its modern, well equipped service facility in the centre of the country,” said Chairman of the Moventas Board, Jim McColl of ClydeBlowers. “I am proud to say that the UK wind industry can really benefit from our highly qualified service team, experienced in the service and repair of gearboxes for all makes of MMW wind turbines.”
Moventas is able to service as many as 20 different turbine brands’ gearboxes, which adds up to 60 models. Focusing on the most popular fleets, Moventas UK covers a large aspect of the market in the area: Vestas V80 and V90, Senvion MM82 and MM92, Nordex N80 and N90 as well as the Siemens 2.3.
Moventas UK’s field service team can perform a number of up-tower jobs for e.g. Vestas and Siemens fleets, and offers local condition management expertise. Moventas’ objective is to extend gearbox life on existing fleets, contributing to cost-savings of wind O&M and therefore lowering the cost of wind energy.